The age of the understatement
by CrushedCoppelia
Summary: If you liked me, you would just sleep with me! Properly!" "Have you even thought that the only reason I'm not doing that it's because I know I wouldn t be able to resist?" -DWYLALWYD's SEQUEL-
1. Prologue: Of lemons and lemonades

**_So, in the end, I didn´t post this as an epilogue for DWYLALWYD, but here you have the sequel! This story is actually only three chapters away of being totally written, so I'll update fast -in theory, of course. _**

**_Read, enjoy and review XD._**

**_XOXO_**

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**Prologue**

When I was little, I was always told that when I got lemons, all I should do was lemonade. And I understood it, I really did, because it was logic. It had a lot of meaning and it was a great metaphor. If you were given something, you should try and do the best out of the situation, no matter how it hurt or whatever, because if you didn´t, the lemons could get rotten and then they weren´t even be good to try and make some jam with it –and I'm sure the fact that the saying wasn´t _when you get lemons do lemon jam_ was because making jam implied a lot of hard work. Believe me, I tried-.

The only problem was that no one ever told me how really hard was to make lemonade, a perfect lemonade. Because it wasn´t good if it wasn´t perfect. I didn´t want any lemonade, I wanted the _best_, the kind of lemonade that housewives fought and even _killed_ for back in the 50's.

And I'm not even talking about metaphors anymore. Right now I'm being dead down… _literal_.

"Stupid thing." I muttered to myself after tasting my sixth try in the perfect lemonade. It sucked. I leaved the jug next to me in the counter and cleaned everything to make a new one.

It was clear now that juices weren´t my thing. I could bake a perfect crème brûlée since I was ten, but lemonades completely escaped me. It made me angry and I wanted to kill something. Like a bug, so I could feel powerful and strong for _once_.

"This is great!"

I turned around surprised and almost dropped both the lemons and the jug I had in my hands when I saw who it was.

He wasn´t supposed to be there _yet_. He was supposed to take a whole new week and a couple of days so I could ran away after just one day of sharing my vacations with his family so I wouldn´t seem mean or unpleasant.

But that wasn´t the only reason I was surprised.

Had he just said something nice about me at all?

I made my best to put up a smile on my lips. "No, it's not." I muttered. It wasn´t. It wasn´t great. It was nothing close to _great_. Maybe it didn´t _suck_ but it wasn´t _great_, either.

"Oh, _right_. _Sorry_. You don´t like anything unless it's the best." The boy standing behind the counter said with coldness in his voice, taking other three glasses and the jug of _my_ juice. I didn´t want him to drink it, and I knew it was a childish reaction, because the reason that I didn´t want him to drink it was only because I didn´t want him to have it. It was _more_ than childish, but I didn´t really like him.

At all.

"It's not my fault you're happy with second best or third best or even _last_." I said annoyed. He glared at me.

"Just because you're a frigid bitch you don´t need to take it out on me."

"And just because you hate the fact my brother is dating your sister you don´t need to talk to me."

"Believe me, I'll be more than happy to just not talk to you at all. But mom, for some deranged reason, thought it was a good idea to invite you over to _my_ vacations. I'd even preferred your brother over you."

"Doug!" Someone screamed from the living room. "We're dying here! I'm thirsty!"

Meet Douglas Lee Poynter, ladies and gentlemen. Otherwise known as my future brother-in-law if my brother and Douglas' sister happen to be as in love as they look like and as close as I knew they were. And even when I was more than happy for Jazzie and Jagger –their names even sound great together, and what more proof that they're meant to be together is need than that?-, the fact that I was going to be related to this asshole was bad enough.

"I'm taking this for _my_ **guests**." Douglas said, starting to walk away with _my_ lemonade.

"Stop!" I yelled, too angry to be the polite girl I normally am. He did as I ordered, and turned to look at me almost surprised.

"What do you want now? An autograph?" He asked, sounding annoyed. I glared at him.

Did I mention he was the bassist in one of the hottest band in the United Kingdom? And I mean _hottest_ in a pure objective way, because that's not my opinion. But in these matters, the opinion of the majority is the one that counts and everyone knew how hot girls around the globe thought they were. I would rather go for Stephen Hawkings, thank you very much.

So now you know.

"Douglas, the only reason I would ask you for an autograph would be to get Lee Ryan's, not yours." I stated, walking to him and taking advantage of his surprise for my speech to take his –_my_- jug out of his hands. He was sweating and I repressed an expression of disgust. I would need to disinfect the whole thing, now. And I swear that was not anything personal. Sweat is just one of the bodily fluids with more germs in it. "If you want to be a good host, make your own lemonade."

"Doug!" Whined a curly haired boy walking to the kitchen stomping his foot like a little child. As soon as he noticed me, he fixed his position and stood over us, taller than both. "Doug, who's your lady friend?" He asked.

I recognized him immediately as Danny Jones, front man extraordinaire and married in Las Vegas man. It was difficult not to know him, really.

"She's not my friend." Douglas muttered annoyed, trying to take my jug out of my hands.

"He's right, I'm not. It would considerably lower my standards just _pondering_ been his friend. I'm Salem O'Shea." I introduced myself, offering him the hand that didn´t have my lemonade.

"And she _really_ is a witch."

"If I was, I would have turned you into a frog already and then I'll cook frog legs and feed them to the poor."

Danny watched us amused, and I blushed. Normally, I was a shy girl that couldn´t managed to laced four words together in front of strange people and much less in front of a hot boy –of course, much _much_ less in front of _two_. But Douglas had a gift to irk me, to make my blood boiled.

Did I mention that I hate him? Way too much?

Because I did.

… I mean, I do.

Especially because, being completely stupid and reckless, he had more success than me. I worked my ass off every day to be the best and he just _was_. I hated that.

"Uh, lemonade!" Danny squealed delighted, looking at my hand. Somehow, I didn´t mind _him_ drinking my second-best-lemonade, so I hand it to him with a new glass from the counter.

"Thirsty?" I said politely, because it was what was expected to be heard.  
"You have no idea! I was dying waiting for Dougie!" Danny grinned, accepting the glass and serving himself. He drank the glass in one go, and immediately refilled it.

"Great. So _he's_ good enough for your second-best-lemonade?" Douglas asked angry. It surprised me he could imagine the exact same nickname as I had for my lemonade, but I didn´t show it.

"Second best? This is one of the best I had _ever_ tried!" Danny exclaimed happily, which in turn made me happy. It wasn´t that I was shallow. I actually, if you so have to know, have a really low self-esteem, so getting a compliment was something I considered rare. And like the next girl, I loved it.

"Thanks." I said blushing.

"You're married, dude. Stop flirting with the Wicked Witch of the West!"

I glared at Douglas, but didn´t dignify that comeback with an answer. Instead, I smiled at Danny. "You can have it, if you want. I'm guessing you're with the rest of the band?" When he nodded, I gave him two more glasses, all under Douglas murderous glance.

"Thanks! You're the best." He grinned, strutting out of the kitchen.

"I know what you're doing." Douglas hissed at me as soon as he was gone. I almost flinched at his tone. "I know it and I won´t let you. Stay the fuck away of my friends and me." He ordered.

I was taken aback but after years of mental preparation, I could cover it up. "You're paranoid. I'm not trying anything, Douglas. I'm just here because your mother invited me and I thought you weren´t going to be here until the next week." I said sweetly.

"Well, now I'm here. Don´t ruin my vacation. If you are so willing to please, go and jump off a cliff." He snarled after storming off of the kitchen, leaving me alone there with my useless lemons.

Lemons sucks.  
Just as much as this vacations were going to suck.


	2. I: So this is how Alice felt like, then?

_Just realized I never do a disclaimer... Is it really necessary if we have in mind slavery it's illegal in most places? If not the entire globe? XD Anyway.. No, they don´t belong to me. But maybe after this Christmas I can change this, seeing as I ask for them to Dear Santa Baby. lol_

_Sorry it took me so much to update, that's why I'm posting two chapters here now! _

_Review's response right in the end, by the way._

_Love!_

_XOXO_

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**I**

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**_**Salem**_

"I'll do it!" I announced as happily as I could when Sam said we needed to get some things from the nearest town. We were in a house near the beach in Ireland, but far enough of the town to need especial trips to go there.

"Oh, no, honey. You're a guest here." Sam said smiling at me. I, of course, shook my head and insisted. Any excuse was a great excuse to get away of Douglas Poynter.

"No, really. It's not a problem for me. I would like to help. And this way, I can buy the things I need to make a great dinner for tonight." I smiled sweetly.

"Are you sure?" She asked and I nodded eagerly. It had been a pretty difficult thing already to convince her I could _and_ should cook at least once, and this was a marvelous opportunity to get rid of her son for a while. Douglas seemed to be determined to ruin my vacations just as much as I apparently had ruined his. " Oh, well. If you want to… I'll ask one of the boys to go with you."

"No!" I almost yelled. "No, no. It's ok. I'll go alone."

"I can´t let you do that!" Sam looked ashamed.

"It's really nothing important, Sam. We're almost family, right? It's no problem at all."

"… Fine. But only because I know I won´t be able to convinced you otherwise." She said giving up. I smiled.

"I'll be back in a few." I announced, grabbing the keys of my car. I walked briskly to my baby, but I didn´t even reach the front door, that the four boys waltzed inside.

"Hi, Lee!" Danny said, waving at me. I smiled and waved back, trying to stop as little as I could and walk past them, as to not call the attention to me, even when I already knew it was the worst thing to do.

So, of course, it didn´t work.

Harry and Tom said hi to me almost as excited as Danny had, and I smiled to them too. However, Douglas only stared at me angrily and didn´t say anything.

"Where are you going?" Danny asked, seeing the keys in my hand. I cursed under my breath.

"Just to town. I need to do some shopping…" I said trying to sound as _not_ excited as I could so I wouldn´t tempt him to go. Of course, that didn´t work, either. It was to be expected, at least, and I already knew it, but statistics didn´t work to make me feel better about them.

"I'll go with you! We'll go with you. A pretty girl like yourself can´t be alone in Ireland. I heard blonde girls are something covet." Danny grinned, passing an arm around my shoulders.

"She's a _Witch_." Dougie clarified just in case his friend had forgotten what he had been repeating every _five words_ every time we were near.

It almost hurt.

_Almost_.

"Oh, come on. We can let her go alone." Tom interrupted.

"It's really not a problem." I insisted. Tom, Harry and Danny were convinced it was their duty as gentlemen, so they didn´t bulge under my pleads to let me go alone. So I had to invent something. "I'm going to meet someone there." I said defeated. The four of them became suddenly quiet.

"Oh… So you have a boyfriend!" Danny squealed delighted. He was like a little child.

"Hush!!! I… I don´t want my brother to find out!" I lied, the first thing that popped into my brain. If I need to be honest, a _boyfriend_ was the last thing that had came to my mind when I think of people I could meet in Ireland in my vacations, right after Stephen Hawkings and Paul Ekman.

I didn´t realize right then and there that I was getting myself in a very precarious situation, but I didn´t feel like being rational. I couldn´t be rational. I _needed_ to be alone and away of Douglas' annoying remarks. And he made it impossible for me to rational, like he sucked all that energy and wasted it away to space, no matter how unreasonable, impossible and crazy that was.

"Young love." Danny sighed patting my head. "Good, then. Go. Have fun." He grinned, kissing my forehead. I blushed, but managed to smile. I was going alone.

"No." Douglas suddenly interrupted. We all turned to him, surprised by his outburst. It was something not even my statistics had contemplated. "We can´t let her go away alone if she's going to meet up with someone. _She_ didn´t say it was her boyfriend and she _never_ told any of us she had one. What if his a rapist? She'll be alone in a different country." He said. I stared at him amazed. Did he seriously was out there to ruin my life?

"He's not a rapist. And he's being my boyfriend for the past three months." I stated surely, too engrossed in defending my lie to actually think it trough.

"And your brother doesn´t know it, which is only one more reason to not let you go alone." He said with finality. I wanted to kick him in the shin so badly I had to bite my tongue to keep me from doing it.

"Let me alone, _Dougie_. I can take care of myself." I hissed.

"Come on, you're too dim! He could probably be pulling off the nice guy act just to rape you!"

I hate to admit it myself, but I actually thought that he could be right and started to feared what my _boyfriend_ could do to me. Wasn´t it enough that _I_ trusted him?

… And then I remembered I didn´t _have_ a boyfriend. See what I mean with his _sucking away the smart energy_?

"Takes one to know one, right?" I muttered.

"I don´t care what you say. We're still going with you."

"… Tom?" I asked, hoping for him to be just a little bit smarter than his friend and put some logic into the equation. It didn´t work.

"Well, Salem, when he puts it like that… It has some sense, you know?" Tom offered with a short smile.

I was starting to get frustrated. "Don´t you think I would know if my boyfriend is a rapist or not?" I demanded coldly.

"Well, yeah… But, then again, isn´t there women that live with serial killers for years and they didn´t find out until they're killed?" Harry interrupted.

I started to blushed from being put into the spotlight, but I fight it off. "You're not going to come with me, and that's final." I complained. They didn´t even listen, and Danny took my keys out of my hand too fast for me to notice. "Hey!" I protested.

He stopped to grin at me. "We're going to behave. We really are."

"I seriously doubted it. You can go, but you're going to stay far away from me." I muttered. If there was something I wasn´t, that was stupid, and I knew it was stupid of me to try and win that fight because it was just loosing time. Four against one usually gives you a victory. Especially when the _one_ is a girl against four men.

"Only until we make sure you're ok. Alright?" Tom said with a wide smile, ushering me through the door. Harry and Douglas followed us to my car, where Danny had already took place in the driver seat. I opened the door for the passenger's seat and jumped in, putting my seat belt on, waiting for the rest to do the same while picturing ways I would never ever carry out of getting rid of Douglas. When we were all in, Danny started the car.

"If your boyfriend is like you think he is and you've been dating him for three months, why does your brother not know him?" Harry asked, leaning towards my seat with mischief in his eyes. He was way too close to Douglas, his stupidity may be contagious.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Mr. D himself interrupted me. "I doubt she has a boyfriend at all." He said sadistically.

Against my better judgment, I got angry with him. "Of course I have! Do you think I'm pathetic enough to pretend I have a boyfriend?" I said outraged.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Douglas wondered arching his eyebrows. "Anyway, if he does exist, he surely is gay."

"Sid is not gay!" I snapped. One of my many deepest, guiltiest and most repressed secrets was my tiny crush with drug addicts. Sid Vicious, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Pete Doherty… And the list went on and on.

I felt my cheeks turning a deep shade of scarlet when I realized what I had just blurted out but there wasn't any possibility for me to take it back.

"So Wonder Boy has a name!" Douglas said amazed opening his eyes way too much. Tom noticed something weird between us, and he stared at both of us interested.

"Yes, he has. Of course he has."

"How is he?" Danny asked, looking at me by the corner of his eye. Against Douglas' reaction, he was genuinely interested.

"He's nice." I said shortly, thinking. How much could I say, really, about a guy that didn´t exist? So I figured out if I was going to be taken down, I was going to go with a bang. I could be still the best at doing it. "He's tall with dark red hair and clear grey eyes; he has a piercing in his lip, one in de eyebrow and a tattoo on his neck. He has freckles, if you need to know. He plays the bass, piano, violin and cello, but he doesn´t like to show it off. He's… perfect." I grinned, trying to look as in love as I could.

_Yeah…. Perfectly not real._

"He seems nice." Danny nodded and I smiled back at him.

"Pfft. He sounds like a pansy." Douglas complained. For once in my life I was seriously tempted to use physical force on someone other than my brother.

"No one asked you." I snapped, glaring at him. I decided to be silent for the rest of the way down to the town, ignoring the four men.

It had been three days since I had met them, and despites my better judgment –they were friends with Douglas, which was supposed to make me dislike them on principle- I had started to like them. Danny was married with a cute girl that called almost everyday and talked to him for hours and hours, since she was on her own vacations with her family, or so I heard. Tom was dating Giovanna still, obviously. I had heard from them in the news many times and they seemed like the next Paul and Janie Newman. She was with her sister somewhere near Croatia, or so Tom had told me, and that was why she wasn´t with him. It was clear he love her, in every single word he said about her.

And then it was Harry. Even in my short time knowing him, I knew something was odd. I had tried to asked Tom about it, suspecting Harry himself would never tell me anything, but he just shrugged me off with any kind of excuse. I wasn't about to give up, if only because my curiosity was too large to control it.

When Danny stopped the car, I practically jumped out of it. I wanted to get away and lose them so I wouldn´t look like a pathetic little girl. There was nothing I hated more than look pathetic.

"If he's your boyfriend of three months…" Started Douglas, leaning over the open window of my car towards me with a malicious expression in his eyes. "What is he doing _here_?"

_Great question_.

Those were the moments when I blessed my quick comebacks when the smart, rational part of my brain abandon me near Douglas. "He's half Irish. I thought the red hair and the freckles will give you a clue." I stated, waving at them as I started to run.

They didn´t follow me. At least, not right away.

I decided I could walk around the town for a while, away of them, and then go to the market and say that he had called me to cancel because…. His mother was sick. Yeah. That sounded like a good enough plan.

… Even when I could easily see the many flat points it had.

I walked inside a small bookstore when I was far enough of my car. The town wasn´t too big so it could be a problem to actually lose them, but I trusted myself to figure it out somehow. I had a great IQ, I could do anything. And just _something_ would please, too.

My attention spam was soon diverted from boys –annoying boys- to books. This place seemed to be Zeus gift to me. I was a complete nerd, if you have to know, and reading was my favorite thing in the world, along with chocolate ice-cream, Sid Vicious and Tchaikovsky. The only problem was that I read way too fast and my luggage wasn´t big enough to fit my entire library.

"Hello, miss." Said the man behind the counter, smiling at me. He seemed bored and he probably wasn´t that much older than me. "How can I help you?"

You should know now that I'm actually really shy. I'm not the kind of girl that will speak up her mind unless she's _pushed_ to do it, and you should know that my history with Douglas it's the exception, not the norm. The way I blushed here… that was more like it.

"No, thanks." I said with a polite smile. "I'm just looking."

"Oh, well. Be my guest. We have the new releases there, if you want to know." The man said. He was probably a lawyer, and this was his parents' store. Don´t ask me how I knew it, because I just did. I had a gift to know those things.

"Thank you." I repeated, going to the place he had indicated. We were in silence for a while, during that time I looked for the perfect book to start here. It had to be funny, and interesting, and mysterious and delightful. Maybe even romantic, if I was feeling like having something light. As much as I loved Stephen Hawkins and the way he explained the Quantico theory, when you had to deal with Douglas Poynter 24/7, you needed a comic relief, _soon_.

"You're on vacations, right?" I stopped in the middle of reading the back page of a book that seemed interesting enough to look up at the man, blushing. He grinned. "Sorry if I'm disturbing you, but I'm bored, as you can probably see. Everyone here at this time either sleeps or is in one of the two pubs open." He had a great accent, thick and nice. Totally Irish. I smiled back.

"No, it's ok. I'm Salem, by the way." I said, walking to him and offering him my hand. He shook it.

"Gerald. Nice to meet you. So, how do you ended up here of all the cool places to be, huh?" He wondered, relaxing in his chair.

"I was invited. The mother-in-law of my brother invited me to stay with them." I confided.

"Oh, meeting the in-laws. That can be tough. Even when they're not really yours…" Gerald laughed, and I had to laugh with him. He was right. At least in what concerned Douglas.

"I agree."

"That's why you're here alone, then, right? Trying to run away of the in-laws and the lovey-dovey brother?"

"Right now…" I started, feeling my shyness slowly disappeared. It had strange moments like those, when it just decided it was cool to trust the person in front of me. "I'm actually hiding from my almost-brother-in-law and his friends because they were adamant about meeting my boyfriend who I just invented to get them off of my case to come here alone. It didn´t really work as you can see."

"Oh, I see. Almost-brother-in-law, you say? Maybe he is jealous!" Gerald offered like it was the best idea in the world. It could seem like that, seeing as it was just a small town –and I'm not trying to sound snob with that, I'm just stating a fact.

"No, no. You don´t know him. He just hates my brother hence he also hates me. I don´t really like him either, so it's a win-win situation. Or loss-loss, depending on how you put it…"

"Why else will he want to meet your supposed boyfriend, then?"

"Because he is a psychotic stalker?" I stated before really thinking it over. Gerald grinned wickedly. "No, no! That's not what I meant. Don´t tell me stalking it's just a way of showing interest when you actually can. This is not a cliché story in Fictionpress."

He stared at me as if he was trying to figure me out.

Ok, I'll admit my actual first ultimate secret: in reference to silly things to read, I'm a complete hopeless romantic. And fictionpress was one of my favorite sites in the whole internet. But no one was supposed to know it.

Ok?

"I mean…" I blushed. "He just doesn´t like me. The reason he wanted to stalk-… I mean, _see_ my supposed boyfriend was to make sure he wasn´t a rapist." Wait… that didn´t sound good either. "Oh, just forget it. He _doesn´t_ like me. And if he does, he does a great job at hiding it."

Yeah, I knew there was a slight probability that he did like me. I knew all about statistics. But in these cases, statistics were almost always wrong. And it wasn´t logic for me if I started to think he liked me when he clearly didn´t.

"If you say so, I'll have to believe you. But, if you ever need someplace to hide, you can come here. And after 5 o'clock, I'm always around The Raven, a pub that's near here. You'll find it. I can introduce you to my friends and you won´t be completely lonely here." Gerald grinned.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it, Gerald."

"Nothing of Gerald with me, girl. I'm Gee."

I grinned. "Ok, _Gee_." But every smile I had disappeared when I saw the four boys walking idly over the pavement in front of the store, looking around, probably for me. "Oh, lord… I have to go." I sighed defeated. "It was nice to meet you."

Gee looked at me curiously, but grinned. "Likewise, milady. I'll see you soon." I waved at him walking toward the front door, but he stopped me before I could go much further. "Wait! Go out from the back door. That way you'll have some time to yourself. I'll pretend I'm a secret agent if they ask for you." He said, laughing as he grabbed my hand and ushered me to the back door. Gee waved goodbye when we reached the door, opening it for me and closing it when I was off the store.

I ended up in the back alley of some small streets, with houses that could have been possibly the stage for Billy Elliot. I looked around, deciding which way to go, until I saw the port ahead of me to my left. I almost started running toward it. Water had always being my favorite element. It was so amazing, hypnotizing.

There were no sign of McFly in the promenade nor could I see my car from where I stood. The place was mostly deserted, except for an old couple that looked so in love it was…. Well, illogic. Love wasn´t supposed to last.

….Maybe they were the exception.

Yeah, that sounded right. I wouldn´t feel comfortable thinking their love was a lie, that they were fooling themselves to believe it was something it just wasn´t.

I walked around for a long time, maybe even hours, just thinking and wishing to have my camera, until the rocks probed to be too tempting and I jumped over the end of the promenade to the rocks of the cost. It wasn't an act of recklessness. I knew the possibilities of something happening to me were almost nill.

But for once in my life, I didn´t count a variable.

"Oh, there she is!" I heard Danny's voice somewhere above my head. I was so surprised I ducked and turned around at the same time, which caused me to almost trip head first to the water. And that would have meant no more Salem O'Shea for you.

Douglas was fast enough to grab my hand when I swing to the edge of the cliff and he pushed me to himself, holding me up to take me back to safe ground. I blushed a deep crimson when I noticed I was clenching his shirt with all my might and I stepped away.

"Thanks…" I murmured.

"Are you out of your mind?!" His angry voice surprised me and I couldn't respond. "If you got yourself kill, my mother will kill _me_! Which mean that Tom will revive me only to kill me again for getting killed!" Douglas snapped.

"Oh… Well, if you hadn´t come then I wouldn´t have had to run from you and then I would never had being surprised by you and I would be safe and much more happy!" I exclaimed angrily when I reacted.

"Only to get rape by your boyfriend!"

"Well, maybe I want to get raped by my boyfriend!" I yelled. Of course, following Murphy's Law, that was the exact moment everyone decided to appreciate the silence, the waves decided to stop breaking and the birds to stop their singing voice. Everyone listened to me.

"Too bad for you. If you got raped under my care, it's the same predicament as before." Douglas snapped, grabbing my wrist and pushing me with him toward his friends. I glared at Danny, Tom and Harry when I passed through them, annoyed. "Where did you say you were meeting your boyfriend?" Douglas demanded.

"The Raven."

That was just another proof Douglas' gift to make me be… _less_ like me.

Speaking without thinking it's not something I do often. Unless when he wasn´t near.

"Ok. We know where it is."

"How are you, lovely Salem?" Asked Danny with a wicked smile.

"Angry. And you?"

"Delight! This place is great." He said, not seeming faced by me at all.

"Can you let go of my wrist? You're making a scene." I said when we reached the principal street. The Raven was the biggest pub in the street, and compared to the rest, it was buzzing with life. My car was parked in front and Douglas didn´t let go of my hand until we were next to it. "Thanks." I muttered sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll wait now. To show you how much of a pillock he is and then we'll go to the market and buy the things you need for cooking."

I glared at him angrily, crossing m arms over my chest, too angry to realized I was about to get completely humiliated. I only remembered my boyfriend didn´t exist after 40 minutes of just _waiting_.

Tom and Harry had sat inside my car with the air con on and the window open while Douglas was leaning against the driver's door and I was sitting in the bonnet with Danny next to me. By that time, they were looking sorry for me, and the jokes and laughs had died down slowly. Except for Douglas, who kept smirking as crazy.

I hated him more than ever.

He was happy that I had being ditched! The asshole. How could he be _enjoying_ the fact my heart was breaking after being ditched by my three months boyfriend?

Of course, I wasn´t really being ditch, but that didn´t change much my current situation, right? Besides, he didn´t know that.

And that was when I saw him.

And with him I mean _Sid_.

He was just like I had imagined. Red hair, clear eyes, freckles, piercings, tattoo… _Everything_.

So I did one of the worst things I could do.

Something completely impulsive.

I ran to him.

"Sid!" I exclaimed happily, jumping to him and passing my arms around his neck. He was shocked, to say the least. "Please, please, smile. Act as if I'm the love of your life. _Please_." I asked desperately.

_Sid_'s gray eyes bored into me, surprised, analyzing me, but less than a second later, he was smiling at me as if I was, indeed, the love of her life. "Cupcake!" He squealed, a too fake note in his voice to be real or believable, but I didn´t think the boys would notice it. He hugged my waist and grinned widely at me. "I missed you so much." He said, leaning towards me to kiss my cheek –I feared for a second that he would kiss my lips, I must confessed. "You'll explain later."

I nodded. "Just as long as you save me and take me away." I murmured back before straightening and turning toward my car. I linked my fingers with _Sid_'s and dragged him to my car. "See? He's not a rapist. Now you can go. Take my car if you want. Sid will take me." I said. Even when I acted so rational and quick, inside, I was freaking out. I was offering myself to a strange boy to save my pride.

I was doomed.

And I mean that in the most positive, objective way possible.

"No, I don´t think so." Douglas snapped, standing up and glaring at _Sid_. "He looks like a rapist to me."

"Well, isn´t it good that he's not your boyfriend?"

"Does he even know your name? He looks pretty confused to me."

"Do _you_ even know my name, Douglas?"

"Of course I do!"

"It doesn´t count to know Salem." I said, squeezing Sid's hand to make him get that _that_ was my name. "You don´t even know my whole name."

"And I know she's Salem. Who are you, anyway? You don´t look like S's brother." Sid said.

"I'm her brother-in-law." Douglas snapped.

"Oh, so he's the asshole you being talking about!" My boyfriend Sid said as if he had just remembered something. "He's worst. _Doug_, stay away of my girlfriend from now on. If you can't deal with your sexual frustrations, pay for someone. Let's go, cupcake." Sid grinned, linking his fingers with my hand as he started to drag me away. I grinned at Douglas, Tom, Harry and Danny.

"I'll see you in the house, boys. Good bye."

**

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**REVIEWS RESPONSE:**

_**Younggryffindor**: XD Oh, but it's nice to hear it lol You're brilliant, too, particularly after introduce me to the Hatter madness! That deserves an award, probably. Is this chapter enough? Plus the Danny one-shot I still have to finish but looks pretty sexy in my mind?? If it makes you laugh, then I'm more than happy. I'm never sure if it's just depressing or funny or what XD This is not really soon... but it's something! Right? -LOOK!!! I'm not repressed by 140 characters!!! lmao_

_**xRevolutionary: **Thank you!!!! This is REALLY going to be that kind of relationship, with almost everyone involved in the main story XD Douglas sounds more.... not sure, "grown up"? It's like it doesn´t really suit him as good as Dougie. Or I'm just blabbering??? lol It took me some time, BUT you'll get two chapters in one go! Does that make up for something???? XD_

**_Ringoisastarr: Just as long as you review I don´t care if you do it as Annie the Orphan or whatever XD I actually loled with your review. It feels weird, right? I think I forgot half what I wrote in the beginning and I remembered not having the slightest idea what this was going to.... Salem is pretty quirky, yeap XD How far are you with you knitting, my friend????? We all want to read more from you!!!_**


	3. II: Because Casablanca is only a movie

_Second chapter of the night before I go to sleep. This goes for Ringoisastarr, like I promise ;)_

_Love!!_

_XOXO_

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**II**

_**Tallulah**_

I sighed for the umpteenth time, contemplating throwing my new Channel purse at my supposedly called _friend_. Now that McFly had finished successfully his tour around Latin America and were on their mini vacations, Mike was totally free. Which meant he had more than enough time to annoy the hell out of me.

"But I don´t understand it!" He insisted for the umpteenth time, just as many times as I had sighed. How much of a punishment would I get if I _casually _and completely _non-intentional-y_ threw my glass of wine to his head?

"Well, I always thought you were a little dense, you know? For all I know, you didn´t even had great grades in college. You're a fiasco." I muttered. Mike had being annoying me since Harry –I mean McFly- had gone away. Every email, every phone call, every SMS had the words _what_, _the_, _fuck_, _were_, _you_, and _thinking_, and every other synonymous he could find. Weird thing, it seemed he only annoyed me. _Stupid chauvinist._

"Oh, shut up, Tallulah. You know what I mean. He loves you and you love him. Why the fuck-?!" He exclaimed too loud, getting carried away. I grunted.

"Am I not dating him? Because it wasn´t going to work. I know you are a hopeless romantic deep down and watched Casablanca or Gone with the Wind or Wuthering Heights like millions of times. But get down to the real world now, for me. Love is not always enough." I muttered. I knew what I was saying was true, and I really believed it.

But it still hurt.

"Oh, come on, Scarlett. Now that you're naming those movies –and we're going to leave Casablanca out of this because we both know Harry and you are no Ilsa and John-, do you really want to end up like Scarlett? Realizing you're in love with Rhett far too late?"

I almost flinched. Of course, Mike was right. But I wasn´t about to tell him that.

"I won´t because I already know it." I muttered.

Mike sighed exasperated. "So you want to go all Ilsa, then! You two can´t be friends and the whole world knows it, Tallulah!"

"I don´t want to be his friend, anyway." I said. _And I'm not really sure if I ever want to see him again…_

When Harry had gone to Latin America, he called every day at first. We talked for hours to no end just… _talking_. But after the first week, his phone calls started to be shorter and taking more time between each. I never was a sobbing kind of girl, so when that happened, I knew things had ended for both of us. Of course, it hurt, but I wasn´t about to go crying and get depressed because I _knew_ it was going to happened sooner rather than later. I was damn proud of myself for taking the right decision and not succumbed to him. If we would have being dating again then, the pain would have been too much.

"Then what? You're going to married some idiotic man that loves you just in order to hurt him?"

"I'm not going to go all Cathy on him either! God, Mike, don´t you know me?" I snapped annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah. I know you. Sorry. It's just that this is complete stupid. I don´t get it."

"The way Harry loves and the way I love work against each other. And that's it."

"Fine, I' won´t annoy you after this But… what are you going to do?"

"Well…. I already finished the book, as you know. So I'm taking vacations. My cousin invited me to Ireland for a month, and he said that if I needed to, he could get me a part-time job near Dublin. I'm going the day after tomorrow."

"You know what happened the day after tomorrow?" Mike asked as if it was some big important secret. I didn´t think it was good the mark his grammatical mistake.

"No? _What_ happened?" I asked, following his game.

"North America was taken over by a climatic catastrophe and Jake Gyllenhal had to run down one of the avenues in New York to save his pretty ass."

I snorted, amused. "This is not a movie!"

"Fine, fine. You were naming books and I felt left out." Mike pouted at me. It was hard to stay angry with this man, really hard.

"Idiot." I laughed.

"You know you love me." He grinned.

"XOXO, Gossip Girl?"

We started to laugh at my completely crazy and random thought and that was enough to get Harry out of my mind. Mike and I finished our food talking and chatting, and then we leaved towards my apartment. He needed to pick up my pendriver with the last edit version of the McFly book.

"So, you're moving out?" He asked amazed when he saw the baggage in my living room. I laughed.

"Nope, just taking some time off with my cousin and aunt in Ireland." I stated remembering him what I had just said some time ago, knowing he was just being sarcastic.

"Oh, tell Ian I said hi." Mike grinned. He had always had a slight crush on my cousin, "Is he with that bitch yet? Did he realize the goodness of male-male sex?"

I laughed. "Answers' no and no. Hannah cheated on him with some random bloke. And Ian is still as straight as he can get no matter how much he sings to YMCA."

"Oh, well. I'll still keep my hopes up."

"You do that if it makes you happy." I grinned.

I tossed him my pendriver and soon after –after eating all my ice-cream and chocolate cookies, that is- he leaved. I was left alone with my thoughts, which wasn´t a good thing when Mike had put Harry back into my mind. It was never a good thing to have Harry back into my mind, because I wasn´t smart enough to stop the way he worked on me.

I did love him, but it _hurt_. Everything hurt. He had promised something and he hadn´t acted like that. What if I had accepted to be his girlfriend again? Then I would have been positively crushed.

So I decided I would act like he didn´t exist and just ignore him, enjoying my vacations.

That night, I dreamed of him.

I've been dreaming badly since that night, that dreadful night, but it was a dreamless sleep.

That night, however, I couldn't take Harry's image out of my mind.

It was a weird dream, the kind of dreams that seem like a movie and you're the witness. I was like the omnipresent witness and I had the whole scene laid upon my eyes. Apparently, it was a wedding, _my_ wedding.

I was sitting in a bathroom in the back room of a church, crying, and that was strange alone. I don´t believe in god –much less in marriage- and I would never, ever, get married in a church. But there I was, with my white, puffy, princess-esque dress crying, and I was Lindsay Lohan. Yes, I was, shut up.

At the same time I saw myself there crying my eyes out, I could see, or feel, not really sure, Mike, Gio and Maggie outside, trying to either calm me down, kill me with my hair or shut me the fuck up. It didn´t work, sadly. Whichever one of those they wanted to accomplish.

I was getting married with someone I didn´t know, but the Lindsay-Lohan-me did. She had convinced herself she loved him, somehow, and she had accepted to married him. At least he was rich, because I recognized the church as the same church where Lady Di had gotten married. That was relaxing, I wasn´t so stupid yet.

"Tallulah!" Maggie yelled, sounding both frustrated and angry, as she kicked the door. Inside the bathroom, Lindsay-Lohan-me didn´t even flinched and just ordered them to go away. Of course, none of them heard me, and finally, Mike managed to open the door.

That was when the dream started to get blurry, as if was the day before Christmas and I had a visit of the Future Actions Ghost or whatever. Mike said something that I, both _mes_, interpreted as _you're being stupid, girl! It's all your fault for not telling Him you love him!_

I knew then what it was.

My Cathy Earnshaw finale.

I didn´t like it. I wanted to wake up because my dream had turned into a nightmare, but I wasn´t allowed to.

Slowly, the scene changed and I was walking down the aisle all by myself. The church was full, but I couldn´t see any face except for Danny's, Tom's, Dougie's and my friends. Weirdly enough, my cousin Ian was there too.

My husband was smiling. I didn´t see his face, but I could sense it. He had a killer body, but Lindsay-Lohan-me didn´t love him. She had the same man in her mind that I did.

_Harry_.

Lindsay-Lohan-me stopped next to her soon-to-be-husband, still crying under the veil, listening to the priest speech in silence. And as if it was a cliché romance novel, when those common and always expected words were said, the doors opened with wind and light and all that jazz. Everyone turned to the new comer.

_Harry_.

But when he opened his mouth to say whatever he wanted to say, instead of his sexy voice, an odd screeching sound came of his mouth that slowly changed to Jace Everett's song 'I wanna do bad things with you'.

I woke up sweating and crying for the first time in _years_. I was scared and afraid and I had the sudden urge to call Harry. I didn´t want to get married with Faceless Man and I didn´t want to get married in a church at all.

My alarm clock kept sounding until I threw it to the floor, angry.

Instead, I got up and went right to the shower, opening the water and getting inside the shower with my pajamas still on. They were going to the dirty clothes basket, anyway. I took my time to get clean up, and then I dried my hair and my body and got dressed.

It was early, I knew it, but I didn´t want to be in my house any longer, so as soon as I was ready, I called a cab and waited. Harry came back to my mind as soon as I stopped moving. If things kept like that, I was going to hate him. That was my defense strategy to deal with things. If I cared way too much, then I'll change that feeling to hate.

Because it was easier.

I hated to think of Harry, because I felt like I was the stupid naïve in love little girl pinning over the Football captain in school. Too Taylor Swift for me.

Thank god, the cab arrived to rescue me of my thoughts, and I almost hugged the driver for it. The trip to the airport was full of mindless chatting, mostly from me, just so I could keep Harry away. But when I was left in the airport, and the check-in was done with, I didn´t have any other excuse.

So I blasted my Ipod in my ears and started to walk mindlessly.

For _three whole hours_!

That's how desperate I was.

I even started to talk with an eight-year-olded boy that was angry with his older brothers!

But finally, my plane arrived and after another hour or so, I was sitting there, as it took off.

Thank god an old lady sat next to me, and I could talk to her about _anything_ so I could not think. I found out about her family, her daughters, why she was going to Ireland, her husband's death and all that things, but I coudn´t recall anything. I was just trying to keep my ghosts away.

Almost three hours later, I was standing in the land on my ancestors, calling a cab and in my way to this little town where Ian and his family lived.

My aunt was waiting for me outside of her house, and as soon as she saw the car approaching her, she started to squealed and jumped up and down. She was so excited she couldn´t even wait for me to get off that she jumped inside the cab to hug me as she threw open the door.

"Nicky!!!!" She yelled. The poor driver must thought she was a mental case, really.

"Hi, hi, Auntie Em." I grinned, patting her back. There was no way for you to find out she was actually 41 years old. She looked 25 or 30. Her name was Emerald so when I was younger and obsessed with The Wizard of Oz, I named her Auntie Em.

"It's been ages!" She squealed.

"I know, I know. But I need to pay now, aunt, and the poor man is going to get you in a mental institution if you keep squealing like that."

Emerald grinned. "Ok." She said, getting off of me and helping me out of the car. I paid with a big tip and then we were left alone to dragged my bags to the house. "Wow…. You're moving in?" She asked delighted when she saw my entire luggage.

I smirked. "Nope, but you're not the first one who told me that."

We dragged everything inside and Em prepared tea for us, showing me to my room. I leaved everything there, only taking my cute dresses out and then I went to the kitchen. We had our oh so British tea, but not long after, Em was needed in her local work in her own pub, so we went there, still catching up with our lives.

The Raven was the biggest pub in the town, or so it seemed to me, at least. It was totally Em in every single possible way and I loved it since the very moment I stepped on it.

Em abandoned me when we got there to go and check on the man working behind the counter and the waitress and waiters. I was left alone in a pub not completely full to _think_. And that wasn´t good, everyone knew it. So I asked for a Margarita and sat near the pool tables, so I could chat with Em when she wasn´t working and in the mean time observed the boys playing pool. Their bums, ok. It's not my fault, really, if they didn´t lean over the table like that then I wouldn´t need to check if… if their trousers broke, that is. I was barely managing to do so when the door opened for the first time in a while and in came my cousin with a pretty girl in his arm.

"Ian!" I squealed, acting a little bit too much like Em. It was contagious. I jumped up and ran to him, hugging him. "Ian! I missed you so very much!"

"Tallulah? What the hell are you doing here?!" He snapped but he wasn´t angry, he was more than happy to see me.

"Vacations, idiot. You invited me!" I threw back at him.

"Yeah, but I didn´t think you would come so fast. You _do_ love me, then." He laughed. The girl in his arm looked awkwardly uncomfortable and she was blushing madly. Ian was always the idiot bad-mannered.

"Hi, I'm Tallulah, the boy's cousin. Forgive him and his manners." I said grinning and offering her my hand.

"Hi… I'm Salem." She said shyly, offering me her hand. I shook it.

"And how did you managed to catch _him_, anyway? You seem nice enough to do better." I smirked.

Ian's smile was so wide I was afraid it will fall off of his face. "I just met her in the streets and she pleaded me to be my girlfriend! I could say no to her."

Salem blushed even worse than before.

"I can´t believe that. It sounds like something _you_ would do, actually…. He's not molesting you, is he?" I asked curiously at the girl. She looked frantic, shaking her head no.

"It's not like that! I actually asked him if he could… pretend to be my boyfriend…" She murmured.

"And you still have to explain that. Just sit here, wait for me and I'll bring drinks." Ian said grinning widely. "You want something?" He asked at Salem.

"No, no. Thanks. I'm good."

Of course, Ian ignored her. "I'll bring a Margarita for you and an Aubrey for you, Nicky." He grinned, walking away. Just if you were asking, and Aubrey is Baileys with ice-cream and it's called like that for me. Yeap, my whole name is Tallulah Nico Aubrey Callhoum McCoy. A whole mouthful, right?

"So… Did you really ask that to my cousin?" I wondered amused.

She smiled softly, her cheeks burning. "Yeah… I needed him to help me escape from… someone."

"Oh, an ex. I totally understand you. I'm here to escape an ex too." I laughed. Yeah, fine, I'll admit it now! One of the most important reasons why I accepted to come _here_ was because there was no chance to encounter _Him_ here.

"Oh, well… he's not an ex. He's the older brother of my brother's girlfriend. And his friends." Salem said. She was getting more comfortable with every word and her shyness slowly dissipated. I grinned to myself, there was something too cute about shy girls.

"Wait, so your almost-brother-in-law is pestering you and you needed a fake boyfriend? He _totally_ likes you."

"No, he doesn´t. You're the second person in less than six hours that says that to me… I mean, I'm not saying there's not a chance, because of course it is. And it's a high probability too, statistically speaking. But I just know it. He doesn´t like me."

"… Wow… You're far too rational!" I exclaimed laughing out loud as Ian approached us.

"I would disagree with you if it wasn´t because you're almost always right." He grinned, giving us our drinks. Salem thanked him with a shy smile and a blushed. "So. Tell us the whole story."

Salem inhaled deeply, nervously, and she started talking. "I was invited here by the mother of the girlfriend of my brother, and the only reason I came here was because I thought he wasn´t going to be here until the next week or so. But he came here now and he hates me. Not likes me, _hates_ me. So he wants to make my life a living hell. I decided to come here to buy some things, and they decided to come too –he and his friends, I mean. So I told them I was meeting my boyfriend." Salem said. She started slowly and then she became more and more sure of her words. "I invented a boy meeting me here and then they decided they had to come to see if he wasn´t a rapist. We were waiting outside and when I least expected it… You came in the picture and you looked amazingly and highly improbable like he boy I created. And the rest, as they say, is history." She finished.

Ian and I were completely speechless, staring at her. Was she for real?

"This is destiny!" Ian suddenly exclaimed, happily. "Let's toast for that!"

"Hum… Thanks, for acting the role for me." Salem said blushing again. "You really helped me out."

"Luck of the Irish, you know. To find a pretty girl in the street that asks him to be her boyfriend out of nowhere!"

"Ian, you're molesting her now." I stated.

"No, I'm not."

"Ian?" Asked Salem surprised.

"Yeah, that's my name. Nice to meet you, cupcake."

"If you're going to pretend to be her boyfriend, you should probably go for the name she gave you, you know?"

"Uh? And what name is that?"

"… Sid…?" She said timidly. I grinned, _god, I love this girl!_ "But he doesn´t have to keep pretending!" Salem exclaimed looking scared.

"It'll be my pleasure. And that way you can save yourself from _Doug_ and save myself of my cos'." Ian laughed, and I elbowed him. Geez, not 'thanks for coming, how much I missed you'?

And then I noticed the name. Doug sounded extremely familiar. But it was also a very common name.

… Right?

There are many Douglas in the world. And it can even be a last name, which moves the number way up.

So I didn´t ask about him.

It would make me completely freak out.

"I… I don´t want to intrude… or anything…" Salem said worriedly.

"Nonsense, girl. I would love to spend time with someone smart instead of my cousin." I laughed.

Salem smiled then, a bright smile that lighten up her face as if she was a little girl. Too cute. "Thanks, then. I really appreciate it."

"So, girlfriend… Am I supposed to take you to your house, then? You told them that."

Salem nodded. "If it isn´t a problem? I'd go walking if it is. It's not that far…"

"Girl, if you're going to spend time with us, you'll stop all that. It's not a problem or he wouldn´t offer it."

"She's right." He said to Salem, and then turned to me, winking. "But she can have fun before! I'll give you two a tour for the town." Ian said happily, didn´t waiting for us to finish our drinks or anything and dragging us out of The Raven after waving at Em.

_Oh, what a day_.


	4. III: I'm just like LéviStrauss!

_Merry Christmas to everyone that reads this!!!!!_

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III

_**Salem**_

It amazed me how fast a situation could change despite any kind of logic or statistics. I mean, not too long ago, less than an hour, actually, I was starting to resigned myself to be publicly humiliate by something I myself had drag upon me. And now I was being dragged out of a pub in Ireland by my supposedly boyfriend and his cousin.

Weirdest thing of all?

I felt comfortable with them, so comfortable I slowly started to talk more and more surely.

"Ok, then." _Sid_ started. I had heard Tallulah call him Ian before, but as soon as I said that was the name I had put my boyfriend, she started to call him that, too. I felt like Alice going down the Rabbit-hole, everything was so strange and highly improbable now that seeing a dragon flying over our heads wouldn´t have surprised me. "This is the street. Not any street, but the main street in here. It's really important, everything normally happens here. Even the murders. We're not known for our brightest killers, you know?" He joked, showing us around the town.

"Someone killed someone _here_?" Tallulah asked wide eyed, amused. Since the probabilities of _someone killing someone_ in any centimeter of the Earth, not really including water space, was high, I wasn´t that surprised.

"Not that I know of. But I'm sure sometime, someone _had _to, you know?" Sid grinned. He ushered us across the street. "Now this is the shopping center, as you can clearly see. A lot of stores to buy anything you fancy. Ice-cream, lingerie, skirts, V-neck shirts… And even some porn stuff." He laughed, elbowing both of us as he showed us the city. I blushed a deep maroon but my smile didn´t faltered, which was a success for me. I was having so much fun with two practical strangers. It was weird.

"Yeah, and you would know that, right? Mr. Pervert?" Tallulah joked. Sid looked proudly at her, pretending to be offended, and then grinned.

"Of course! I'm your baby cousin, I know this stuffs. It runs in the family!"

"Perversion?" I wondered curiously. I wasn´t a person normally curious –no, that'a a lie, actually; I wasn´t a person who would normally acted upon her curiosity in a noisy way, that's what I meant-, but that was strange and I had to know it. Both cousins smirked at me.

"Well, yeah. I think we're related to Sade, you know?" Sid stated proudly.

"Probabilities of that actually happening are really quite high. Of course there are some factors that you can´t ignore, but I would dare to say that it could be probably." I explained, thinking it over. Wouldn´t it be great to be related to someone like Sade?

"I like you." Tallulah announced happily after some moments of staring at me just as Sid was doing.

"… Thanks?" I murmured self-consciously, not really sure of how I was supposed to act with that statement.

"Oh, it's a good thing, girlfriend of mine." Sid grinned, elbowing me jokingly. By now, I was past blushing every single time he did a comment about our supposed relationship. "She's not known for liking many people… She's actually known for just sleeping with men she likes and don´t give them time enough to like her back." He added. Those words sound like something way too intimate to say out loud, and I knew I was right when Tallulah glared at him. So this was something personal and real and not hypothetically speaking.

"Well, at least I'm not the one toying with them." She snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. Sid didn't even look faced.

"I don´t. They know how things are." He stated grinning widely. Despite my better judgment, I had to accept I was interested in what those two were speaking about. I'm normally far too logical to let myself fall under the power of curiosity, but that didn´t mean I wasn´t curious. And all this talking in front of me without explaining but without hiding it was… interesting. It was like they wouldn´t deny me an answer if I asked them, but I knew I couldn´t do it. Conflict of interests if you want to put it in words.

"Well, isn´t it great to be you?" Tallulah said mockingly.

"Come on, Nicky, we're scaring her." Sid suddenly said, cheerfully, linking his arm with mine. I blushed –physical contact was something it would still take me some time to be used to- but didn´t move.

Tallulah sighed dramatically, but after some seconds, she finally smiled. "Sorry, Sal. Now, where were we?"

"About to take a wild turn in the events." Sid stated with a wicked smile as he grabbed Tallulah's shoulder and dragged us towards an alley.

For a moment I feared he was actually a rapist. Not my most logical thought, but still. Why would anyone in their right mind take an unknown girl who just happened to be his pretend girlfriend and his cousin to an alley? Of course, I hadn´t taken into consideration that maybe, _maybe_, he wasn´t on his right mind.

Sid guided us through the alley until he stopped in front of a door painted in red. I had many illogical thoughts right there, like that maybe it was painted in blood or something like that, but even with that show of stupidity, I wasn´t scared. Which was in itself something quite stupid.

It ended up he was only taking us to the backdoor of a music store ran by his friend, Analena Garrison, a woman that looked every bit like an edgier version of Vivienne Westwood. She was just as welcoming as Tallulah and Sid, and she accepted us in and invited us with drinks and cookies. It felt out of character to be drinking milk and eating Oreos in a punk music store, but it was so weird that I felt I was in a parallel universe, so I leaved my shyness away.

I didn´t think of my brother, his girlfriend, Douglas or his friends for the next few hours, when I remembered that I had to cook that night and I didn´t have the slightest idea of what to prepare nor I had the ingredients. Which, in turn, took me to think that when I went back to the house, my brother would probably wonder why I had gone back alone and not with his brother-in-law. And that wasn´t a pretty sight, because the probabilities of him going _berserker_ when he found out I had a boyfriend –no matter how untrue that statement really was- were higher than the Eiffel Tower.

Tallulah noticed immediately that something was off, and when she asked me, I wasn´t able to invent a logical excuse, so I just told her everything. Sid, Analena and Tallulah herself agreed to help me, and the next hour was spend trying to find the perfect recipe and buying the ingredients. I was normally not only a logical girl, but also one quite cynical, one who was sure that there were none really good, altruist persons, in the world. But there I was an hour later, carrying only one bag while a man I had recently met carried the rest to his car without waiting anything in exchange. And I'm not even counting the two women that gave me every single excuse they could think of for me to give to my brother.

"I'll call you." Tallulah announced once we got everything in the car. We had exchanged number a while ago, and we had agreed to go to one of the beaches that only the locals knew of. "Around 1 PM?"

"That sounds great." I smiled. "See you tomorrow, then."

"See you, Sal!!" She exclaimed, waving at me as Sid started the car. For once in my life, it didn´t bothered me to be called Sal. I had never really liked my name, much less its nicknames, but Sal wasn´t half as bad as _Sally_, which was quite awful.

"You're smiling now." Sid said as we moved across the main street towards the road I had indicated him to take. I looked at him surprised. Didn´t I had smile before? He grinned as if he had just read my thoughts despites how unreasonable and wrong that was. "I mean, you're _really_ smiling now. Like you're enjoying yourself and not like you're only doing it so no one would pester you about it."

I blushed, and when I tried to explain to him, I stuttered. I used to do that when I was little, when I was nervous. I was sure I had gotten rid of that habit. Apparently, I was wrong. "W-well… I-I'm enjoying m-myself." I accepted.

"You look prettier when you're really smiling." He stated with his almost permanent grin. "And I'm glad you're relaxing now. Are you going to still worried about _Dougs_?" I laughed, I couldn´t help it. "Now that you have a boyfriend to run away to?" Sid laughed.

"Well, that's a relief in itself." I smiled. "Thanks, really. You must be crazy to accept to pretend to be the boyfriend of a crazy girl that runs to you and ask you to." I said, because it was true and I had been wondering about it since… well, since he _accepted_.

"It's nothing really. I have a huge Knight in Shining Armor complex, so I couldn´t leave a Damsel in Distress to fend for herself. Much less when she's a pretty girl being molested by some idiot."

I blushed even more. "Thanks." I murmured. "I owe you big time, so whenever you need something…" I trailed off, not really sure what to say or do. Those kind of things weren´t fully logical so I wasn´t great at them. Give me a mathematical problem and I'll solve it in less than fifteen minutes. The human psyche, though… That's a whole different enigma.

He smirked. "Ok, I'll mark your word in that." Sid stated as he stopped the car right in front of the door of the house where I was staying. I was nervous, really nervous. He grinned and grabbed my hand. "Relax, girl. You're not doing anything wrong and if you're way too nervous, just let me speak to me. I'm a Drama King, according to Nicky."

It was hard not to laugh at that. "Ok, thanks. Again." I said as he motioned for me to stay sit while he went to open my door for me. I smiled, and as I was accepting his hand to get out of the car, I saw the curtains in the first floor moved a little. As if…. someone was spying on us. Weird. It wouldn´t be my brother, because if he had seen us he would be there alre-…

…I spoke too soon.

"Salem Leighton O'Shea, where the fuck were you?!" My brother stood in the open door glaring at Sid with all his might. If it wasn´t because we weren´t in a movie about people who developed any kind of supernatural power, I would have been afraid of him boring holes in Sid's skull. But that was impossible.

Or at least, I hoped it was.

"I-I-I…." I started, stuttering, blushing and fidgeting all at the same time.

"She was in the town with me, doing shopping. I'm Sid, ni-…" He started, but my brother cut him rudely.

"Yeah, who cares? I'm not talking to you." Jagger snapped furiously. He then turned to me, and Sid squeezed my hand between his in a reassuring manner. "I heard you were meeting with your _boyfriend_ but I didn´t believe it. You never told me you have one. Is this your boyfriend?" My brother demanded.

The logic thing to do was to act all smart and superior and tell him it wasn´t his business at all. But I couldn´t do it because he was my brother and I was lying and I knew it was because he cared about me. "Yes, he is." I said. "Sid, this is my brother, Jagger. Jay, this is my boyfriend, Sid."

Sid grinned widely, extending his hand in front of him again. My brother completely ignored it. "Nice to meet you, man. Sal talks a lot about you."

"Well, she doesn´t talks about you at all. If it wasn´t because she's my sister and I know her, I would say she's just having fun with you. Because she used to tell me _everything_." Jagger stated. I sighed, dropping Sid's hand and putting my hand on my brother's shoulder.

"Jay, I didn´t want to tell you yet because we were just starting. I was waiting for the right time…" I said slowly, modulating my voice so he wouldn´t freak out. That was something I had mastered up when I was little and I corrected my maths' teacher about something or asked questions to my 4 grade English teacher about Anna Karenina.

"You should have told me you were dating someone." He demanded.

"I know, I know. Sorry. The good thing is that you know now, right?" I tried to smiled and show him everything was ok. I tend to compared men with wild animals and it normally worked. You had just to act in front of them as you would do in front of a wild tiger, and you were bound to succeed.

"Yeah, but not because you told me." He muttered annoyed. He was going to added something I could tell, but was interrupted with a pretty blonde girl bouncing trough the front door of the house.

"Hi, Salem!" Jazzie smiled, skipping toward Jagger and intertwining her fingers with his. I smiled at her as she eyed Sid up and down. "So you bring him! Mom was hoping you did, so we could invite him over. Want to stay for dinner?" She said happily, smiling widely at Sid. He grinned, amused.

"Is it a habit of every person you know, my love, to speak to people you don´t know as if they were BFF?" Sid asked me in a low voice, mocking me, and I blushed. "I don´t want to intrude…" He said out loud, but I was sure his answer will be yes without so much pushing. In the short amount of time I had known him, I had realized he had a weird sense of humor and he enjoyed way too much any type of confrontation, like the one that was bound to happen between him and either my brother or Douglas. Sid would probably feel like a child in Christmas shopping while I try to choke myself with my own hair. And yes, I did know that was illogical which clearly shows how much it was altering me.

"Oh, no, no. You wouldn´t be intruding at all! Mom asked me specifically to invite you over if you were here with Salem. Dougie told us she was meeting with you, so we thought this could be a great moment to welcome you!" Jazzie smiled. I loved Jazzie Poynter like a sister, because she was so willing to love me as a sister too. We had never had any kind of fight because she was dating my brother or because her brother and I didn´t got along well. Instead, she accepted me as a member of her family just as much as she accepted my brother and her mother accepted us both. The only problem in the equation was Douglas, but he was like a Y in a complex logarithm's calculation: you couldn´t get rid of him unless you used a variable. And my options of variable to get rid of him were each as disgusting as the previous one.

"Well, then. I would love to stay here." Sid grinned. "I'm Sid, by the way." He added, doing a little bow to Jazzie. She smiled delighted.

"I'm Jazzie, Jagger's girlfriend. And I must tell you, Salem here is my adopted sister, so you hurt her and I'll kill you." She stated, but just as she started to speak, she went back to smile. "Just so you know. Now, come on, we have to get ready for dinner!"

"Jazz, I'm going to cook, you don´t need to be ready for anything yet." I stated, fearing her next words. There was only one logically probable answer and I knew I was not going to like it.

"But everyone is _dying_ to meet Sid, S!" She pouted.

"And I'm dying to meet everyone!" My supposed boyfriend said grinning wickedly, squeezing my hand in what it was supposed to be a reassuring gesture. Of course it didn´t work because the probabilities of getting out of that predicament harmless were really quite a few.

"Just…" My brother snapped, pointing a finger at Sid threatening. "Don´t get all touchy-feely with my sister."

"I won´t. I have an almost sister myself so I know how it feels. I respect you, mate!" Sid said happily as he grabbed the bags and followed Jazzie inside like it was something he did every day. Which might as well be it, because I really didn´t know him.

"Well… You could've done so much worse…" Jagger sighed, offering me a smile as he picked up the last few bags from the floor. I laughed at him, and dropped my arms around his neck. "Like a total, annoying, know-it-all nerd…."

"You're the best brother I could have." I stated. I knew I wouldn´t be able to survive dinner if I needed to deal with both Douglas and my brother, so it was a huge relief to have one of those factors cleaned up.

However, the worst was in front of me.

Literally.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Douglas snapped as he walked down the stairs with his friends behind. They were like the Three Musketeers, with Harry as Will Scarlett. Jazzie and Sid were standing in the kitchen and since the kitchen was separated of the living room only by a counter, they could see them without any problem. I caught Sid diabolical smirk as he looked up from the freezer, and I started to fear. Maybe humiliation was better than having a war here.

"Oh, _Dougs_. How rude of you. We didn´t have time to introduce ourselves later, dude. Name's Sid, and I'm-…" He started, but Douglas cut him off.

"Who cares? What the fuck are you doing here?"

Sid sighed dramatically. "Why no one let's me finish my introduction?" He pouted looking at me. I have to admit it, he looked adorable when he did it, so I couldn´t help but smile at him.

"Mom invited him, Dougs. Act a little more civil, for god's sake." Jazzie ordered.

Douglas ignored her, and he turned to me and my brother. "Why would you let a rapist in the house?" He snapped at me, and then at my brother. "Are you ok with this?"

"If he was a rapist, _Douglas_, he would have already done it and I can assure you both that he had _many_ chances to do so and that he _didn´t_." I snapped back. Jagger looked conflicted for a second.

"Did you give him opportunities to rape you?!" He exclaimed. Still in the stairs, Danny was trying to contain his laughter by biting his lip, as Tom –who was actually doing the same- tried to scold him for doing it.

"Yeah. I paraded naked in front of him with an '_I'm rape-able here!_' label in my chest." I said with complete lack of emotion. My brother's resemblance with a paling root was too funny to ignore it. "No, I didn´t! God! Just because he's paranoid you don´t need to be, too!"

"Hey, I'm not paranoid!" Douglas snapped annoyed. "I'm just saying that he could easily be a rapist and you wouldn´t notice."

"Oh, yeah. Like you would care if I get raped!" I snapped. I know it wasn´t true, but Douglas was starting to get on my nerves. And his mere presence completely devoid me of my common sense.

Douglas was taken aback by my comment and he couldn´t speak for a while. He wasn´t the only one surprised, though. Everyone was staring at me. Except for Sid, who kept laying on the counter the things I would need for cooking. When he noticed my eyes on him, he looked up and smiled at me, mouthing that I needed to _relax_.

"If I were a rapist…" He said in a calm voice. "I wouldn´t be here to give you all not only a possibility to recognize me, but my fingerprints. It wouldn´t be smart."

"He has a point." Jagger accepted. "That doesn´t mean I like you more, but at least you're not a rapist. Or at least, not a _smart_ one…"

Just like that, things went back slowly to normal, as Sam entered the picture delighted to meet my _boyfriend_. Danny, Tom and Harry went towards the kitchen too, and when I looked up, I found Douglas staring at me.

I blushed, but I wasn´t very sure _why_. This time there was nothing to actually activate my blushing controller. Nor it was too hot there to send more blood to my skin to fight it…

"I would care if you get raped. How can you think I wouldn't?" He hissed, as if he was disappointed I thought that. I didn't really think it, but he didn't really let me say it out loud, because he stormed off towards the garden in the back of the house. And that was way too overdramatic for me to follow, so instead, I went towards the kitchen.

"Salem, he's a lovely man." Sam grinned, giving me a one-arm hug and she smiled. I wasn´t really close to my own mother, and since Jay and Jazzie started dating seriously, Sam had become the motherly figure I looked up for any kind of help. I loved her and the fact she cared for me enough to make my supposed boyfriend feel comfortable here was… _touching_. And it made me feel guilty for lying to her. But I couldn´t go and tell her that I invented a boyfriend because I couldn´t stand her son.

"Thank you, Ma'am." Sid said with a courteous bow. I sighed as I moved to stand next to him.

"Thanks." I murmured as I passed him, and he just grinned. I knew enough of eye-language to understand that look meant _it's nothing, really, I'm bloody enjoying myself here_. Or something along those lines.

After that, I started to prepare dinner, and slowly but surely, every one of them went away. Douglas' friends, Jazzie and my brother, and then Sam, so only Sid and I stood in the kitchen with a half cooked chicken in the oven as he chopped vegetables and I prepared the rest of the food.

"This is fun." He said after a while. We had been laughing and joking all the time, something I'm not really used to since I preferred logical things rather than funny things. To each their own, right? "I thought I was going to get killed by the end of the day, but since _we_ are the ones in charge of the food I can be sure I'm not going to be poisoned!" Sid exclaimed happily.

"I don´t think they would try to kill you." I stated. "It would be a bigger problem to kill you than to put up with you."

"And then they would need to get rid of the corpse and that would be even worse, right?"

"Right…" I said nodding, sure of what I was saying. It only took me a second to noticed Sid's grinning face. "Wait, you're joking, right?"

"Yes, I am. You take everything way too seriously. It's not fun! Loosen up, girl." Sid said out loud. I smiled at him, and was about to retort something when I was interrupted by a snort.

"Please, Salem and loosen up don't mix." Douglas said frowning at us.

"Not usually. But I'm sure if I wanted to, I could." I stated just because I really thought that. It wouldn´t have any logic to say something you didnt think in that situation, right?

"For your _boyfriend_, right?" Douglas sneered, sitting in one of the stools in front of the counter where Sid was leaning. I had noticed the way Douglas said boyfriend, as if it was a disgusting word.

"No. For herself." Sid interrupted.

I decided against answer to any of them by giving my whole attention to my casserole over the oven, adding spices and mixing it all together. I zoned them out, just in case I was bound to be the witness of a fight, but when I dared to listen to them again, I didn´t hear them fighting.

"… not really like that." Douglas said, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn´t look half as annoyed as before, but he still glared cautiously at Sid.

My supposed boyfriend kept grinning. "Come on, you were bummed a person didn´t know you!" He teased. Oh, so they were probably talking about the band.

"I was not. It just _surprised _me that-…"

"I didn´t know you. Fine. Tell me the name of the band."

Douglas looked reluctant to do so, but he did it anyway. "McFly." And that simple word got a hilarious reaction in Sid He actually choked in his next words and he had a cough attack, as his face turned red. I offered him a glass of water, amused and interested. Was he a fan of the band? His sister was a groupie? There weren´t really a lot of possibilities to get that reaction off of him, but I couldn´t think of much.

"_You'_re McFly?" Sid asked once he had calmed down. Douglas was just as surprised as me, and he looked at me before answering with a court nod. "As in one of you is named Harry Judd?" He pressed.

"Yeah. What the fuck is wrong with you?" Douglas demanded, but instead of looking apologetically or something along those lines, Sid smirked.

"This is fucking hilarious." He stated and yet he didn´t laughed. Why would you say something was hilarious if you weren't about to laugh?

"I don´t see how…" I said slowly, just in case he had lost his mind completely. Statistically, that was a possibility.

"Of course not." Sid laughed, patting my head. I didn´t appreciate being patted in the head, but my confusion was too big to actually demand of him not to do it again. "Just… don´t tell Nicky the name of the band yet. Please?"

I nodded. I mean, why I would I say no to _that_? Sid had probably gone mental, anyway. "But I'll keep the hospital's number on speed dial just in case." I told him, looking him right in the eye. He shrugged me off, laughing.

"Ok, ok." He said to me. Sid looked at Douglas from the corner of his eye and grinned even more. "So you're the famous McFly. Wow, Sal, you didn´t tell me your brother-in-law was rich and famous." I just shrugged, and I thought –but it was probably just a hallucination- I heard Douglas muttered something like 'don´t call her _Sal_'.

"Well, she never mentioned a boyfriend, either." He retorted frowning. Douglas shouldn´t frown, I found myself thinking, surprising myself. _He is too pretty to be frowning_.

Despites any kind of logic, I blushed, and once again zoned them out to focus on my food.

This situation was getting on my nerves in ways I never thought possible. I should feel great and relaxed that Sid was taking care of the predicament and Douglas seemed annoyed, and yet… I _wasn´t_. And the only logical and statistical answer for that was… well, completely illogical and un-statistical. Because there was no logic at all in me liking Douglas. Or statistic.

So absorbed I was in my own thoughts, I didn´t really pay attention to anything else, moving in autopilot, and by the time I regained conscience, I had somehow managed to get everything ready to be served. Sometimes, I really amazed myself, even when that's the least humble thing to say at all. It was honest, right? That should count as something.

Jazzie, Jay and Sam were there arranging the table, Douglas had magically disappeared, his friends were nowhere to be seen and Sid was grinning maniacally at me. I felt my cheeks blushing a deep maroon, but I ignored it as I helped finished with the arrangements in the table.

I was somewhat scared, and I wasn´t sure why. I felt anxious and… _guilty_, too. And not knowing why something happened or even worst, not understanding something _anything_, only worked to make the situation worst.

Those were the moments when I hated to be so rational.

… and I also hated the way Douglas kept staring at me for the whole night.

* * *

**REVIEW RESPONSE:**

Ringoisastarr: _Salem's Bones attitude is COMPLETELY showing in this chapter, with all that Lévi-Straus talking XD And while I re-read aaaaall of this, I think we need a little bit of Mike. He's cool, I like him! XD I'll send the next three chapters tonight to be beta-read, if you have time. And.......... I should send you FN, too, right??? Tell me when you have time and i'll re-read it too. Love you!!!!_

_Annie the Orphan: Oh, I got a review from Annie!!! I'm proud lol. I forgot ALL of that, too. I think the first chapters are waaaaaay better than the rest, which makes me kinda ashamed of the future chapters -.- I'll make them better!! It's a promise. We all love Sid, I think. I didn´t see that movie but I desperately want to because everyone says it's amazing, BUT I did read that first chapter and you're right!!!! I hadn´t notice before. XD Love you Annie, I'm your fan!!! lmao_

_Dani6531: -You get three! XD- First one: Yeap, she's pretty honest with herself, because she's waaaaaay too rational and reasonable. Lying to herself would be something quite stupid to do for her XD. SECOND XD: lol, those druggies are hard to not to love, I know XD She's soo honest with herself that knows what's bad or wrong for her, and that as long as its just a crush, then it's not that bad XD -if that made any sense... it's hard to answer this with my brother and his friend and my mother around annoying me to go to eat something XD- Oh, Sid it's preatty cool, I think I have a crush on him myself. How can you not love a man that accepts to be your fake-boyfriend just out of the blue???? XD THIRD: Oh, you'll make me blush. I'm glad you like it and it surprised you!!! Here you have the next chapter for you!!! _


	5. IV: It's a small world after all

_This is a quick update because I'm not really in my computer. I'm trying to make a friend understand what the hell Jane Austen wrote and what Emily Bronte. He's kinda an idiot about this things ¬¬ lol_

* * *

**IV**

_**Tallulah**_

After the third time hitting my head against the vanity next to my bed, my mind came to wondered about the actual effectiveness of my escapade. Maybe I should go back to London because, really, what were the odds of _actually_ seeing Him in that big city? Probably lower than seeing Luke Worrell. And I couldn´t keep sleeping in that tiny bed! It's been ages since the last time I slept in a bed smaller than a Queen size.

But then I remembered my untie Em and Ian and even the Salem girl. I couldn´t really just eloped back with Manolo and Jimmy and Viv-…

_Oh, fucker_.

As soon as those names crossed my mind, I wanted to cry. I wasn´t going to admit it, of course, so back then I totally blamed the feathers blanket for giving me allergies. But the only thought about Manolo brought back Harry's promise –a broken one, mind you- and that hurt too much.

_And to top it all, I was so stupid to actually bring those shoes with me._

Now that I had the idea in my brain, I couldn´t fight it down. I kneeled under my bed and took off my LV super sized bag with my prettiest shoes, and took the newest Manolo box out. I felt like a believer in front of the Mecca. Even when it sounded totally stupid and cheesy.

The shoes were as outrageously amazing and divinely perfect as always, but I had hoped secretly that with the time they would look less… fantastic. They were exactly the same. And I hated Harry for giving them to me. How could I forget about him with such a gift?

"Well…Waste not, want not, right? Mrs. Lovett said it." I muttered, as I took off my sleeping socks and put on the heels. I felt strangely like Dorothy and her ruby slippers and for an instant, the little child in me clicked her heels three times. "_There's no place like home._" I murmured, but didn´t even started the second, feeling completely stupid.

Instead, I decided to worry my head on other things, like finding which outfit went best with the heels. When I was ready, I put on my Marc by Marc Jacobs multicolored cotton floral-print sundress with a tiered hem and an empire-line that gave THE perfect rack. It had a full double-layers skirt and ruching under the bust, and it looked just perfect with the heels.

I needed to feel sexy for a while. And wanted.

"Wow, cos!" Exclaimed Ian when I made my presence known in the kitchen. He was the only one there, staring sleepily at the television. I grinned and kissed his cheek, a habit I had acquired from Maggie during the tou-…

_Girl, stop thinking about it!_

"Good morning to you, too."

"It's almost midday, hardly morning. Why are you all prettied up? Something I should know about? A boy? A girl? I know pretty much everyone here." Ian said suspiciously, frowning.

"I just wanted to dress up for all you town people. So I won´t disappoint in that stupid prejudice about city girls." I grinned. However, I didn´t need to say anything else for my cousin to know I was blatantly lying to him and knowing what was really happening to me.

He smiled, standing up. "Why don´t I take you out to eat and you can show off your London city-white legs?" Ian said offering me his arm as he grabbed the keys and tossed them in his jacket's pocket. I noticed he pick up his car keys and stared at him surprised, letting him drag me nevertheless.

"Are you going to kill me and toss my body? I thought everything around here was at walking distance." I said suspiciously.

Ian laughed. "And it is. But what fun would it be to show you off _here_? No, we're going to a lovely restaurant that serves the best food in the country and casually, also the best beer. And luckily enough, almost everyone with a car in the near towns goes there at midday."

I nodded, sliding in his car as he held the door opened. Who would have known my cousin was a total gentleman? I leaned over his seat to unlock the car and waited for him to sit to shoot him with all my questions.

"So…" I started. Ian smirked.

"So I heard about this band." He said, catching me off-guard and changing completely the _theme_. I glared at him.

"Well, music is quite a popular thing in real world. Did you hear The Beatles, by any chance? They're one of the best and I really hope for this town to be not as small as to not have heard about them."

"No, you idiot. I mean, I heard about _the_ band. _Your_ band. And if you want me to specify any longer, I will."

I blushed. "I don´t know which band are you tal-…."

"You're ex boyfriend's band? The one who cheated and promised to-….?"

"Fine, fine! I get it! Don´t need to be a bastard." I muttered annoyed with him, but also hurt. Stupid retard needed to make me _remember_?

"Sorry, Nicky. So, about McFly."

"What about them?" I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest.

"They're not that bad."

"I never said they were."

"Yeah, you kinda did. With all that _they suck, I don´t want to see them anymore!_" Ian said, watching at me every once in a while as he drove out of the town.

"You know that's what I normally say when…"

"When you get hurt, I know, yeah. But what I don´t know is _why_."

_Sleazy bastard. T__hat was what he wanted to know the whole time!_

"So, _because he cheated_ it's not enough for you?"

"It is, Nicky, don´t get me wrong. But I heard mom taking with you after the break-up and you seemed to have forgiven him. And then you come here telling us he's a bastard and you don´t want to see him ever again… Don´t get me wrong, I'm with you no matter what and even if the reason is because he wore briefs instead of boxers. He hurts you, I plan his murder; it has always being like that. I just want to know…"

"Ian? I don´t really like to talk about that…" I said in a low voice. I saw him sighed and then I felt guilty.

"I know it can make you feel better, you know? Spill it out. But it's ok if you don´t. I'll wait." Ian grinned, winking at me. "Enough about this, what did you wanted to interrogate me about?"

"Oh, yes! Yes, yes. Thanks for reminding me. I was wondering about this girl, Salem, and your relationship with her." I blurted out grinning. He actually blushed, and that was one of the cutest things I had ever seen.

"What about Sal?"

"Well…. Do you normally accept to be the boyfriend of any random girl that asks you to?"

"Not really… Only the pretty ones." He smirked.

"Ian! Don´t be a pilock. Are you developing a crush on her? Just to be prepared." I asked.

"Well… Not right now, and I think she already has someone to worry about. But given the proper time, yeah, I could fall for her. Or at least really like her."

I pouted at him. He made these interrogations no fun at all. "This is unfair, you can´t be that calm with your feeling," I ordered, frowning. Of course, Ian laughed out loud at me. Stupid prick.

"I was always like this. It's the logical thing. Why would I deny something when it's clearly the truth?"

"To amused _me_, for example, between many other amazing reasons!"

Ian laughed harder at that, but soon enough he was speeding down the road so he couldn´t shake so much with laughter then. He grinned at me and we kept the trivial talk for almost half an hour. That was when a shore opened in our left, an amazing view, and in the middle a pretty small building that looked built in the same air and stone of that beach. It was amazing.

"That's where we're going?" I asked.

"Yeap. Didn´t I tell you it was lovely?"

"Didn´t I tell you lovely sounds gay when you say it like that?"

"Yes, and yet I chose to say it because I'm comfortable enough with myself. Do you like the view so far?"

"Are you _really_ asking me that? Isn´t it obvious?"

"Well, yes. But I love to hear how awesome I am at any given time."

"Fine, fine. You're awesome. Happy?"

"Very much, love." Ian laughed.

By that time, we were in the almost completely full parking lot of the restaurant, and after parking, Ian came to my side and opened the door for me. Any girl could fall in love with him, and I wondered why he was still single, then.

We walked towards the restaurant laughing and joking between ourselves, ignoring the looks or catcalls I was getting –because, believe it or not, I was used t it by now. A waiter opened the door for us and, following Ian's orders, found us a table in the small balcony.

But as I crossed one of the areas of the restaurant to go there, I felt the floor start to shake. I desperately crossed my finger to be in the Baudelaire's aunt's house and that to be the reason of that, but I knew it wasn´t.

Because in one of the tables to my right, Harry laughed some joke Jazzie just made.

"Oh, fuck!" I said out loud, not realizing I was getting more attention that way as I jumped up and hide behind Ian. He seemed worried for my sanity –or lack thereof- for an instant, at least until he followed my gaze.

"So… He _is_ the same Harry…" He murmured.

"What?!" I snapped, suddenly furious. When I realized everyone was starting to stare, I lowered my voice. "You dragged me here because he was going to be here?!"

"No, girl. Cool it. I brought you here because I wanted you to forget about him! I didn´t know Salem and them were going to be here." He apologized, looking really sorry. So he wasn´t a conniving bastard with this, big deal.

"Salem? What do you mean by…? Oh, great. Douglas _is_ Dougie Poynter in the end, right?" I asked, completely defeated.

But I wasn´t even as closed to hell yet as I thought I was, nope.

Right then and there someone called for Ian.

"Isn´t that one Sid? Sid!" Exclaimed the older woman in the table, waving at my cousin. He looked at me apologetically.

"You can make a run out for your money now, if you want. I'll deal with this." Ian offered.

I sighed, seriously contemplating his offer. But the adult hiding in me shook her head. "I'll meet him sooner or later if they're so close, so… what the hell…"

_Stupid adult Tallulah…_

"Ok. You know you have me here for whatever you want." He winked, grabbing my hand between his and squeezing it. I faked a smile as Ian dragged me to the table of his supposedly girlfriend and her family. We stopped in front of them, and Ian offered Salem and the older woman a bright smile. "Hello." He grinned, and then he did the last thing I wanted him to do right then –and that includes dying and being abduct by aliens, thank you very much. He pushed me a little forward so _everyone_ could see me now, even when they hadn't noticed me yet. "This is my cousin Nicky."

"Tallulah!" Exclaimed Tom, completely blowing my idea of just getting the hell away. I sighed, faking a smile as I looked at him.

"Hi, Tom." I said.

"Oh, you know each other?" Salem asked completely surprised, staring at me and then at McFly with suspicious eyes. It didn´t take long for her to notice the only one I was totally avoiding was Harry, and when she did, she looked right into my eyes with a somewhat apologetically look. I shrugged.

"Yeah. I was the one in charge of their tour book."

"Oh, so you're the famous Tallulah my son kept telling me about!" The woman said happily, patting her husband's shoulder. Her words made me wonder who's mother she was. Harry's? I didn´t think he was the kind to talk to his mother about girls. And she didn´t look like Tom's mom at all… And she didn´t have a Bolton accent, now that I think of it. So there was only one option left. "Remember, honey?"

The man smiled at me. "Yeah, I do. But it isn´t proper to make them stay there like that. Do you want to join us?" He offered, standing up. Weird enough, my first impression was Louis, of Interview with the Vampire, but I'm not sure why.

"That would be lovely." I smiled back, only because we would look real mean if I deny it and because I knew that if Ian accepted for both of us he was going to feel forever guilty. Quickly, they had made the arrangement and my cousin and I were sitting in the same table, he next to Salem and I next to him and Dougie. Thank god I wasn´t next to Harry.

"So, it's a small world, huh?" Tom grinned.

"Yeah!" Danny nodded. He seemed nervous, and he kept glancing back at Harry every two seconds. Tom and Dougie hide it much better. "Who would have thought that Dougie's sister's boyfriend's sister was dating Tallulah's cousin?"

Jazzie looked at him as if he was the stupid man in Earth. "Yeah, because that has _so_ much sense." She said mockingly. I hadn't really met her personally, but I knew who she was. I had seen her some times in the tours and all.

"There's not even seven degrees there! So we're closer than the Facebook's theory. It's impressive." Danny declared excitedly.

Slowly, I started to zone off everyone in there. Harry had being completely quiet since he had seen me, and his only reaction was a look of total surprise that was fast enough disguised as something else. It was way too confusing to be there without adding… everything that he made me feel even when he was standing all across the table.

It hurt, I'm going to admit it. It bloody hurt.

Having him so close to me when I couldn´t decided if I wanted to kiss him or stab him was completely messing with my nerves. And nobody wants a crazy Tallulah. It's in everyone's best interests.

So I stood up.

"Sid, I forgot my jacket in the car and it's getting chilly here. I'll go pick it up." I said with a fake smile remembering his 'new' name here, and thanking god for none of them to have an extra jacket. I needed my time off.

I didn´t wait for a real answer apart from a smile and almost ran away toward the parking lot, wanting to be a coward and get the hell away. Instead, I just collapsed against the bonnet of Ian's car, sliding so I was sitting with my back against the glass. I took my legs to my chest, hugging them, and hid my head between my knees and arms, not really caring about the dress or if I was showing my underwear. Who cared about that, right? Maybe I was giving the onlookers something to enjoy, which was way much more than I could say from myself.

"Tallulah."

I was so surprised to hear that voice, that I jumped up and almost slid off of the bonnet. His arms stopped me from completely ridicule myself, though. But I think I would have preferred the total humiliation of falling of the car.

"…Harry." I muttered, crashed against his chest. I felt like crying, like when I was little and I hugged my big stuffed bunny, hiding my head in its chest.

"… It was a shock, seeing you here." He said in a low voice, his arms still around me. His voice sounded weird and his whole expression seemed… _apologetically_. "You're cold." Harry stated seconds later. He took off his jacket and put it around my shoulders before I could even think.

"Believe me, the shock was _mine_. I certainly didn´t expect you to be here, from all places."

With every word I said, I started to feel more and more… _angry_. _He_ had stopped calling! Why was he acting as if he was _sorry_?! If he was, he would have kept calling and save himself from that!

"Well. Our paths seem to be linked somewhere." Harry said with a small smirk that irked me completely.

"Yeah, maybe." I accepted, just to push him away. "Maybe it was just so I could tell you exactly what I think of you! You disgust me, you're a total bastard, you're a-!"

"You're wearing the heels." Harry pointed out and I stopped blushing.

"They're Manolo's heels."

"But I gave them to you and you're still wearing them-" He started but I interrupted him.

"After what you did? Yeah. I'm not going to stop using a perfect pair of heels just for something that didn´t really mean that much." I said as coldly as I could, blatantly lying. But he had hurt me, and I didn´t want him to know exactly how much.

Harry glared at me, but as I tried to walk away, he grabbed my wrist and pushed me to him. This man was more like the one I remembered; it was way too weird dealing with uncertain Harry. But it didn´t mean I liked him any more for that.

"Don´t give me sass. We both know it meant more than that."

"Whatever it was, it's past tense. Not present. Let me go, Judd." I snapped, fighting his arm and totally loosing.

"Are you trying to tell me I'm not important to you?" He demanded to know. And that was enough for my poor nerves.

"You stop calling! You lied to my face and then stopped calling! What the fuck do you think you are, a vampire? Leonardo DiCaprio? Hercules?! I'm not your Penelope to wait forever for you, Harry Judd. Actually, I'm nothing yours. Not your employee, not your friend, not your other part in a civil conversation and certainly _not_ your girlfriend, so just let me go."

He not only _didn´t_ let me go, but he pushed me against the door of the car and pressed his body to mine, furious. I found his shinning eyes something completely seductive, impressive, drawing me on like the edge of a cliff. Enchanting and hypnotizing and _dangerous_.

"_Penelope_? Are you fucking laughing at me?! You're the one that said we should wait!" He snapped.

"I didn´t say that! I said that love wasn´t enough. And it clearly wasn´t, right? What, you felt tempted for some Latin sexbomb? You went out with Danny and getting laid was more important than calling me?" I said with hate, and I figured that if he had hurt me so much _knowing_, I could at least save my pride. It was the best I could do right then. "It's ok, you know? I probably wouldn´t have answer your call, anyway. You're not the only one that found out _waiting_ and _love_ were just too stupid words to believe them."

As soon as I said those words, as it normally happened to me, I knew I was lying far too much. Harry looked shaken, as if his ground was suddenly replaced with quicksand. But he quickly kicked off that of his face and body.

"You're lying." He stated. Whatever guilt I felt in those two seconds disappeared with those words.

"No, I'm not. You know I'm not. Did you seriously think I was going to be faithful to an inexistent relationship?" I forced a cold laugh. "That's stupid, Judd. You know me better than that."

"And because I know you, I'm sure you're lying!" Harry snapped, closing his grip on my wrists to a hurtful degree.

"Then why are you so shaken up, huh? Don´t tell me… you were hoping for me to _wait_ for you like a fucking war bride for you even after you _stop calling_? Oh, god, you're dumber than I thought you were." I laughed, aiming to be as cold, cruel and mean as I possibly could.

For a small second, I thought he was going to hit me. He closed his hand in a fist, letting go of my left hand, and looked ready to slap me. He didn´t. Instead, Harry took his hand to my neck, closing it and grabbing my hair quite painfully.

"So, that's it, right?" He sneered. "You're a slut."

I blushed, and didn´t think before slapping him with all my might, so hard he stumbled back and let go of me.

"I don´t want you near me _ever_ again. If you happen to put a hand over my body again, I swear I'll-"

"I wouldn´t dare to touch you after you've been whoring yourself!"

I slapped him again, my eyes hot with unshed tears, but Harry stopped me again grabbing my wrists and pushing me again against the car. He was closer this time than before and there was almost no gap between our bodies. And before I could even think, his lips were over mines, biting, licking, and pinning to gain entrance to my mouth. I opened it, but only because I wasn´t smart enough and I wanted to scream.

I tried to pushed him away, but between the car and his body, I didn´t have much room to do it.

Harry's hands leaved my wrists and moved to my hips, sliding them under my short dress. And even when I was liking it, and I had closed my eyes and was sorta kissing him back… it was wrong.

So I pushed him away as hard as I could and when I steadied my breath, I slapped him.

"Don´t you _ever_ go near me **again**. Never!" I snapped, pushed him out of my way so I could open the door and get inside. And then I started the car and drove off, not really sure where I was going.

I only stopped a while later, when seeing the road became a very difficult thing through my tears. I was crying like there was no tomorrow, and I wasn´t even sure _why_. I hated feeling like that, and I hated Harry for making me feel that way. It wasn´t supposed to. I hated him for making me… _love him_. And I hated him for making me feel like I could trust him, when I clearly couldn´t.

"Stupid girl." I muttered to myself, hitting my forehead with the steering wheel. I was in the side of a road by the side of a cliff, close to the beach and facing a wood. It was a lovely place, and if I wasn´t feeling so depressed, I would have probably enjoyed myself just by looking at it.

When I looked up, in front of me I noticed a group of boys that had all the look of… well, the Wolf Pack of Twilight was the only thing that came to my mind. And I figured that if jumping from a cliff was good enough for Bella, I could do the same. Even when I didn´t have a werewolf to save me. I was smarter than her, right? And I had done things like that quite often all my life.

So I opened the door, hid the keys under the seat and took my beautiful Manolo heels off, wiping my face clean with my hands. I would love to say it worked, but it really didn´t. I was in a somewhat hysteric shock because the tears kept falling on their own accord. I closed the door and started to walk towards the now empty cliff.

Now that I was this close, suddenly jumping didn´t look like the best idea. Cliffs would always make me think of Harry and his eyes, and the last thing I wanted right then was to jump to him. Instead, I sat in the very edge with my legs in the air, miles away of the water beneath me. It was an overpowering sensation.

And I started to sob again.

_Stupid Tallulah!_

"Hysterics, that's what you are. Just fucking stop!" I snapped at myself, smacking my leg furiously.

"I beg to differ. What you are is wounded."

I was _this_ close to fall over the edge because of the jump of surprise I did when I heard that voice so close to me. Thank god, I kept my balance enough to get my ass back to a steadier position on the ground. I remember that I thought he was weird, for not jumping to me as soon as I even blinked in a dangerous way. That was what almost every man I had dated or meet did. Like I was a damsel in distress, or something.

I instantaneously like him.

The man sitting next to me with his legs bend under his body was gorgeous to say the least. He had bleached blonde hair and the most amazing pair of eyes I had ever seen, rivaling even with Harry's. He looked great, even just sitting there next to the mess I was. And he had a piercing in his lip.

I may even start to drool.

However, my moodiness didn´t understand of cute boys.

"Really? How can you tell? Do I have a neon sign over my head that I'm not able to see?" I snapped back. This time, I wasn´t going to have a second Elliot, because that was bad enough. I was feeling bad without the need to add another reason to feel guilty or just plain stupid.

The boy just smiled, but he wasn´t looking at me. His eyes were on the sky in front of us as his hands play with the rocks and grass in the edge where we were sitting. "Well, if you so much want to know… It was the way you walked, you know? Like you carried the world upon your shoulders." He stated pensively. But before I could say _anything_ he shook his head. "No, wait. Not like that. More like… someone killed your favorite pet, you got kick out of college, you had a bad hair day and you found out there wasn't any more ice-cream in the fridge, altogether at the same time."

I was surprised, really. What kind of person said something like that? But it was so random and unexpected that I had to at least smile. He turned to me then and smiled back, pointing at me with a finger.

"Now, that's a pretty smile." He said, dropping rocks down the cliff, I watched them fall, leaning a little bit more over the edge. "You _could_ fall, you know?"

"Wasn´t Einstein the one who said that all that goes up eventually has to go down?" I shrugged.

He grinned, eyeing me from the corner of his eye. "That's deep, right? It's supposed to have more meaning."

"No, actually. It's just that." I stated, crossing my arms. I hadn´t realized it yet, but I had stopped crying. That didn´t mean I was less sad, anyway, and the thing in my throat that seemed ready to burst was still there and there were tears in my eyes ready to be shred.

But he kept ignoring the mess I probably was.

"That's what made me came back here." The man said after some moments of silence. I looked up at him wondering what he was talking about. "I mean the way you walked. I was going back home with some friends, when I see this beautiful girl that seemed so out of place around here walking that way… I just couldn´t let her go. I'm far too curious for that."

I smiled at the sun, couldn´t help it. "And it seems that's all you are, right? No name, or anything." I replied, quite sure that in my brain I was supposed to sound teasing or something. I didn´t.

"Nikko. I'm Nikko." The man said.

"Well, isn´t that a coincidence?" I murmured to myself, but he heard me. "Well, I'm Tallulah, but my middle name is Nico, actually. Like…"

"Like the model, right? The one who sang with The Velvet Underground? Amazing CD, one of the best in the history of CDs." Nikko said vehemently. I was surprised. He seemed out of… the book Perfect Men, or something.

"Everyone calls me…" I started and then I realized I didn´t really have one nickname, so I smirked at him. "Pretty much whatever they want. Tallie, Lula, Lola, Nicky… Pick your own."

Nikko smirked back at me, with a teasing glint in his eyes. "I decided one for you." He announced. "But you'll have to stop looking so sad if you want to know which one it is."

For an instant, I was tempted to do as he told me and just laugh.

But I couldn´t, because it still hurt.

"I wished it was that easy…" I sighed. This time, his smirk was full of mischief. Nikko stood up and offered me his hand. I took it without really thinking.

"It is." He stated, walking backwards and taking me with him. I was confused, but didn´t feel like stopping him. I was curious. "One…" He started counting and that only worked to make me _more_ confused.

"Wait, what are you gonna do?" I demanded to know. Nikko only grinned wider and took another few steps back.

"Two…" He went on, ignoring my question.

"Nikko, wait…." I said cautiously.

"Run." Nikko ordered, before screaming: "Three!!" And then he started running, taking me with him. Strange enough, I wasn´t even scared. Three more seconds and we were suspended in the air.

I totally understood Bella. That was one of the most amazing moments of my life, feeling totally free, with no string or nothing to hold you down… Exhilarating. For that small moment there was no Harry, no family, no friends, no nothing. Just me, the air, the sky and Nikko's hand.

And then, the water.

I'm not going to lie, it did hurt. A little. But it was _so _worth it.

My legs ached for the brutal contact with the water, and the sudden coldness, but I didn´t pay attention because the water going right to my brain was much more painful. However, I didn´t complain or anything. I loved it. I tried to swam my way back up, not really sure where it actually was. Until Nikko's hand appeared again in my line of vision again and he pushed me back to the surface.

I was grinning like mad even when I needed air and was completely wet, and I felt like laughing and giggling and all. So I did, laugh I mean. I laughed good naturally, hard, like I hadn't laugh in weeks. I laughed as we swam to the little beach there and I was still laughing when we sat in the sand. Nikko looked proud and grinned wider with every laugh.

"See how easy it was?" He asked teasingly, elbowing me softly.

I nodded. "Thanks. I hadn´t enjoyed myself since…" _Harry cheated on me_. But I wasn´t going to say that to him.

However, Nikko noticed my change of attitude. "Oh, no. I'm not taking _any_ of that. You're going to keep smiling. You're prettier when you smile and no one deserves such a sacrifice no matter how good you think they are."

"The problem is… I _know_ he doesn´t deserve it…" I murmured. Nikko put his arm around my shoulders, but didn´t say the kind of thing I was waiting for him to say –like "you'll find someone better!" or "if you know that, then why do you feel like that?"-. No, he just there holding me close and started to hum a song of The Clash I didn´t remember the name of.

"The cliff is always here, you know? That's what I do when I feel the world is too big to pay the slightest attention to me. I come here and jump alone. It's amazing, right?"

"Yeah… almost as amazing as meeting a wacko boy that pushes you over a cliff." I laughed.

"But don´t tell me you didn´t have fun because I'll throw you again just to probe my point." Nikko grinned.

And that's when I decided he was a lifesaver. Or so to speak of.

We stayed there for at least an hour, just sitting there, in silence. It was the very first time that I was able to appreciate the silence. I was actually amazed with myself for that because I didn´t know I was able of stay silent, it seemed impossible to me. Apparently, it wasn´t.

The moment was interrupted by Nikko's mobile, but even when he didn´t pick up, the atmosphere was broken.

"I think it's getting late." I sighed.

He offered me a smirk. "Are you so desperate to get rid of me?"

"Not really, you're nice. But I actually kind of stormed off on my cousin, his girlfriend and her family. They're probably worried sick." I sighed, defeated. Stupid people…

"And yet you don´t sound worried about it." Nikko stated, nudging my side. "Come on, I'll take you up to your car and then I'll give you my number so you can stalk me whenever you want."

I laughed. How could I not laugh at that, right? "I preferred to be the stalked, and not the stalker, thank you very much. For legal reasons, you know?"

"Oh, yeah. That little detail… I forgot." He grinned, standing up and then offering me his hand to help me do the same.

"You're forgiven." I answered and then I remembered the whole jumping off a cliff thing. And that was a complication, right? Because then I'd need to go _up_ to get my car. "Nikko?"

"Yeah?" He answered, still guiding me through the beach towards a wood. He wasn´t going to rape me, right?

"How are we going to go up?"

Nikko smirked. "Can I go all Simba on you and say that I'll _show_ you when we _get_ there?"

"Disney fan, huh?" I laughed and nodded. "Fine, then. But I'll be all Nala and say it better not be anyplace dumb."

"That depends." He grinned. We had crossed the vegetation that divided the road of the beach, and in front of us, parked behind a small building, there was a shinny, sparkling, black and purple Harley Davidson Fat Boy. I would have go all fangirl and started squealing if I would have known for a fact how much of a total stupid I would have looked like.

No, instead, I stopped amazed.

"How dumb do you consider my ride, huh?" Nikko asked, walking toward the Harley and taking the keys out of underneath the seat. He then tuned to look at me, but I was still speechless in the edge of the wood. He laughed. "Well, and I thought that telling you that it was actually Newton was going to be the exact way to make you speechless…"

_Newton?_

It took me some time to understand what the hell he meant by that, but it was ok because that time helped to get myself together and approached him again. I smacked his shoulder when I was close enough.

"So very Jacob Black of you. This is the Wales version of La Push, then?"

"Do I look like a native?... Ok, don´t answer that. Let me change _my_ answer. What Team are you?"

I smirked. "I'm Team Switzerland!" I said perkily.

"… Switzerland? What do you mean with that? Is that a vampire I didn´t read about because I got bored?"

"No. I'm Team Switzerland because I'm neutral. I like both."

Nikko thought my words for a moment, and then cracked up laughing. He had a great smile, the kind of laugh that reverberates all through the space you're in, no matter how small or big it was, and made you smile back. Like babies' laugh to some people, only in a greater way. More husky and deep and throaty and… Hell, it was sexy. His _laugh_ was sexy.

"I can work with that." Nikko winked at me as he sat on the bike and offered me a helmet. I sat behind him, taking the thing but when I didn´t put it, Nikko turned around to put it himself. "We'll drive safe, ok? If I so happen to crash, and you die, they're going to think I was trying to kidnap you to sell you to the slavers to be a sex slave in some foreign country."

"Pervert." I stated, smacking his back. But I was feeling a lot happier than when I had come here. Harry was way forgotten.

"A sexy one, at that." He joked, putting his own helmet on and kick-starting the bike.


	6. V: Bonding time shouldn t be inside cars

**_I took my sweet time updating again, I know. I promise I won´t take that long again! Ringoisastarr won´t let me, right? XD Just give me feedback if you want me to keep updating this or not, anyway. Or even if it's to say how much you don´t like Spencer Reid -like my mom- or how much you think he's yummy -like my aunt and, of course, yours truly XD._**

**_Love!_**

**_XOXO_**

* * *

**V**

_**Salem**_

I thought I was going to have a quite –as possible- day out with them. But it all went downhill even just as I put my snickers on. Since that night dinning with Sid and everyone, Douglas had been acting… weird. In a way that wasn´t at all logical, hence I wasn't able to fully comprehend it. Not that I _always_ comprehend Douglas Poynter, but at least before that night I could somehow make out a pattern to his acts and I was able to know when to retort and when to just ignore him.

The idea that I liked him kept floating in my brain whenever any of his weird retorts came to my ears, but it was easily suppressed by logic. I didn´t _like _him. _Yet_, at least. I just found him… interesting? Like a specimen to analyze, despites how bad that can sound. And he kept throwing things at me to make me think that he _hated_ me, when that wasn´t logic at all because he **clearly** didn´t. Because if he did hate me, he wouldn´t mind at all who I was dating and why. Which always ended up bringing me back to the _liking_ part in the equation, but if everything lacked of logic before, when I add that factor it just went down the rabbit's hole. Curioser and curioser.

That day, for example, Douglas had somehow forced Tom to say that my shorts were too short for a day out. I just knew it was actually _his _doing, and not Tom's, because of the way they both looked at me, and then at Jazzie and my brother. Jagger just shrugged, completely ignoring us all.

"She has a boyfriend and Sally is not the kind of girl to sleep around." He stated like it was the most normal thing to say. I felt my cheeks burning, and glared at Douglas. He had managed to get his way, no matter why he wanted that, and Douglas know it for the vicious victorious smile he gave me when I passed in front of him towards the stairs. I got changed, because I was feeling too self-conscious, not because he had said it.

And after I got my jeans and a red tank top on, things weren´t much different. When I went down, everyone except for Mister Douglas himself were already outside in the cars, and he was looking all but angry. I remembered I thought what I had done to make him feel like that, but just that quickly I dismissed that thought as completely illogical.

"Mom said we need _bonding time_." Douglas said when I stopped in the stairs, looking at him for an answer, any kind of answer. I think I almost winced.

"Wouldn´t it be enough if we just watch some James Bond movies?" I asked hopefully, knowing it was a completely idiotic thing to say for me. But to my greater surprise, Douglas smirked, probably trying to hide his laughter. That surprised me, I'm not going to deny it.

_Did I just make Douglas _laugh_?_

"I don´t think so. But on the bright side, it's only a trip of 40 minutes top." He shrugged, toying with the keys to his car.

I sighed. "Let's get going to get over the nightmare already." I muttered, walking across the door towards his car. Douglas followed me after a moment, but his mood had totally changed. He was even more illogical and unreasonable than a girl with PMS, and that coming from a girl who actually experienced PMS first hand is something quite strong to be said.

I got inside the car and waited for Douglas to get in too so we could just get going, but his mood swings kept bothering me. Why would he feel like he did out of stupid things or even out of the blue? It wasn´t logic at all.

But that word gave me an epiphany. There were things that weren't supposed to be logical, right? Love was one of them. So what if all this time I had been looking at the problem from a completely confused perspective? What if the fact that it wasn´t logical at all was the fact why it was _so_ clear? I felt my cheeks blushing, knowing that it wasn´t really possible.

… Well, probable, actually.

He was famous, he could have whoever he wanted, so it wasn´t _logical_ that he –in a hypothetical case, I mean- liked _me_. Not logical at all. Or reasonable.

I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling frustrated. I hated things I wasn´t able to understand or analyze; that was why I loved maths and chemistry and physics and all those perfectly perfect things. In equations, there was no room for illogical things.

With Douglas, it seemed, there was no room for _logical_ things.

"Why did your mom tell you that, huh?" I asked, turning my eyes at him. Douglas moved his head back towards the front of the car too fast to be normal when I did that, and that made me suspicious. Had he been looking at me? Did I have something in my teeth?

He shrugged gripping the steering wheel a little too tighter. "Maybe because she saw us fight a little too much?" He offered. It seemed like a really plausible reason, actually, so I accepted it like true.

"In that case, she should have just sent you to some manners camp. I'm not the one who starts them." I muttered. Like I had mention, I didn´t hate him. But he made sure I could think he did by the way he acted, and no matter… _anything_, actually, it wasn´t a nice thing to be locked up with someone that didn´t like you.

Douglas glared at me. "Oh, yes. How would mom think that Miss Perfect is doing something wrong? That would _so_ change the way the Universe rolls!" He snapped with a high pitched voice that seemed to try and resemblance mine. I blushed, and had the sick urge to hit him. I had never hit someone, much less out of simple impulse.

"Humph." I muttered, tightening my arms around my chest. "If your mother wants us to _bond_, fighting it's not the reasonable thing to be doing." I stated, suppressing my angry tone as best as I could.

"That's right." Douglas accepted. I nodded once, and focused my eyes on the road ahead of us. Ireland was a really pretty country, with something in the air that differenced it from England. We had the beach at one side, and woods at the other, and the bright sunny sky over our heads. It was hard to stay angry with anyone in a day like that, so I turned again to Douglas with a smile on my lips, decided to make a truce.

He was staring at me by the corner of his eyes, and he wasn´t admiring my face.

At all.

No, his eyes were focused on my chest, were my crossed arms just pushed my breasts higher and closer. I blushed ten different shades of red, starting with a soft pink and ending with the suffocating scarlet.

I uncrossed my arms fast and looked in front of me again, feeling too self-conscious to do anything else. But when I looked at the road, I found that the car had been moving in diagonal, when it was a straight road, and we were now right in front of a fastly-approaching… truck.

"Dougie!" I snapped, moving out of impulse to grab his cheek and forced him to look in front of him. I'm still not sure where _that_ came from, because I'm not the type to act out of impulse, and that only worked to make me feel even more awkward and nervous. I seriously hate not to be able to control my environment.

Douglas gave a fast and sharp turn to the steering wheel to take us back to our trail, as his cheeks turned a deep crimson red and he avoided to look at me.

"Sorry." He murmured.

I smiled. "It's ok." I accepted, because it really was. I meant, statistically, we wouldn´t have been killed if we take into consideration every aspect of the situation. Douglas looked at me once more and smiled too, before going back to the road.

"You called me Dougie." He said after some minutes of silence, and I suddenly felt nervous, ashamed and my cheeks burning.

"… I did? I didn´t notice." I said surely. Douglas looked at me from the corner of his eye. "…Sorry. It won´t happened again." I said, and I may or may not have blushed at that. I told him what I said because I was sure that was what he wanted me to say. There wasn´t any other possible reaction of him or reason of his to point that fact out. But his replied took me completely by surprise.

He nodded, slowly. "Nah, it's ok." He accepted, but he looked… _hurt_? So I indulged myself in a not reasonable at all coursing.

_What the fuck was wrong with him?!!_

And that's when an idea appeared out of the blue and too many romantic comedies inside my head.

There was one way to prove if he really liked me or so Hollywood had made entire generations of girls believe. And I figured out that since the predicament wasn´t a logical predicament at all I could indulge myself for once in my life –and my life as a baby doesn´t count- in an illogical reaction.

I was going to _flirt_.

But that idea didn´t make me happy at all. No. I wasn´t comfortable and I wasn´t a good _flirter_. I just needed to look at from an anthropologic point of view. I wasn´t going to _flirt_, no. I was going to be introduce into the socio-economic stratum of Douglas Poynter in the only way I thought possible and probably the only method he would accepted so I wouldn´t disturb my observation. I was going to be like Lévi-Strauss, that is, except that instead of ancient civilizations of different cultures… I was going to interact with _guys_. One guy actually, a clear specimen of one of the most strange races in the whole humankind: a male belonging to the elite conformed by socially accepted and idolized association of specimen with different musical abilities –a _band_- that indulged into a low utilization of the intellect inherent to humankind.

And once I looked at it like that, it seemed easier for me.

I was Lévi-Strauss advancing in the world of Douglas –from now on, Male Specimen Gamma.

"So…" I started. That small word seemed to be the best way to start a conversation in his environment, and this time work it too, because he looked at me from the corner of his eye to show he was listening. "You… you have pretty eyes." I stated awkwardly, blushing and avoiding his face. That was one of the stupidest and most illogical things I had ever said, particularly since the prettiness of a pair of eyes was irrelevant except for a symmetric face. I wasn´t the type of girl to notice that first, but I was conscious that Male Specimen Gamma' type of girl were. And I crossed my fingers figuratively speaking to not have ruined my cover of an anthropologist.

Male Specimen Gamma chocked with his own saliva and when I dared to look at him, his cheeks were a reddish color and he looked flustered. "Th-thanks?" He wondered, not really sure of what to answer. Well… I hadn´t ruined it _completely_.

I sighed relieved. "You really do. And a pretty line of your cleavage." I added. Hopefully, my embarrassment at saying those kinds of things was successfully concealed under an innocent face.

I took a deep breath. I needed to be valiant for this investigation to go to good port.

_One, two… three_.

Slowly, I turned myself so I was facing him, leaning slightly towards him. The red shirt seemed to catch his attention like it would caught the bull's, so I tried to placed it in his line of vision. Mentally, I was repeating over and over Lévi-Strauss book. _Eye contact, girl. Act as if you belong and don´t try to show your social and intellectual upbringing to the specimen._

"I heard you gave a splendorous show last month." I said in a seductive voice

… Ok, I'm not going to lie. I _tried_ to be seductive, but I didn´t sound at all like Samantha from Sex and The City. At least, I _did_ remember that male specimens were supposed to find exhilarating the conversation dedicated to their own abilities that distinguished them from the rest of the tribe.

"It was… ok." Male Specimen Gamma said unsurely. I had confused him, clearly. That wasn´t a good thing to do, according to Lévi-Strauss, but since it was my first field work, I deserved some points. Right? "Since when do you care about the band?"

"Oh, I don´t." I accepted. "But you do."

I felt completely stupid saying that, corny and illogical too, but wasn´t that the right thing to say? I thought it was. Weren´t you supposed to make the male specimen know for sure that you were there just for _him_?

"And since when do you care what I care about?" Male Specimen Gamma continued, but he didn´t seem as angry or hurt as before. He seemed, in fact, very pleased with himself. But he was still eyeing me carefully as if I was a Medusa trying to freeze him, so it wasn´t _still_ a successful investigation.

And that was a good question.

Some of the great investigators of the humankind should write a book with clear instruction to deal with the male specimens of the whole world hence making a lot of lives easier.

"Since I first noticed the… symmetric way your… sternum joined your ribs." I stated, batting my eyelashes, and positively looking like a total idiot. This wasn´t working.

"My… _what_?" Male Specimen Gamma asked. "Look, Salem, if what you are trying to do is mock me, then just stop. I don´t want to be in this situation half as much as you and, frankly, you're acting weird and it doesn´t suit you." He snapped, annoyed. His hand's gripped the steering wheel tighter than before until his knuckles were white. His jaw tense and I was sure you could cut ice with the angles of his tight expression.

I felt defeated, and since then, I kept my mouth shut until we arrived at the restaurant.

Douglas got out of the car first, and waited untill I had closed the door to put the alarm on and stormed off towards the building. I followed him in silence, both annoyed and… sad. I didn´t like to make anyone feel bad, but, on the other hand, I couldn´t tell him I had used him as an experiment. That was totally against L-S's laws.

So I just went in, located the table, and sat next to my brother, forcing a smile on my face.

It was illogic that I felt so sad then, but the truth is that I was. I couldn´t find a good enough reason, but I was. And it annoyed the hell out of me in a lot of different ways.

Unfortunately, my mood didn´t change at all, and at that same moment, Harry and Tom were laughing at something Jazzie had just said. I tried to pretend to be immerse in my people-watching, to get myself an excuse, but instead that gave me the perfect view of a tall redhead girl coursing out loud and jumping to hide behind… _Is that Sid?!_

The girl –who I recognized as Tallulah- seemed positive scared and was trying to hide herself from… what exactly? I tried to find the reason, but the only thing in her line of vision was either our table or the fish tank with the lobsters in.

Was she scared of lobster? It was the only logical answer.

"What?!!" Tallulah snapped, so loud the whole restaurant heard her, and she caught Sam's attention for the very first time.

"Isn´t that one Sid?" She asked out loud, waving at them. I blushed. _Oh, yeah. My boyfriend_.

Tallulah thought about running away, but she finally decided on approaching us. So she wasn´t scared of lobsters but of someone in our table. Was it me? It didn´t sound reasonable, but lately I was experiencing so many illogical things that it could actually be logical what normally was consider illogical. Like a change in the bell curve of Gauss.

Yeah, that has sense.

"Hello." Sid grinned, pushing the obviously trying to be invincible Tallulah to the front. She glared at him, but Sid didn´t even flinch. He kept grinning. "This is my cousin Nicky."

And right then, everything suddenly made sense.

Well… not _everything _of course, but every little aspect regarding Tallulah and her fear to approach the table. And I didn´t even need Tom squealing her name to assure me that yes, she was Harry's reason to look so… lost is the only word I can think of right now. He looked at her completely surprised when she approached us, but he disguised it fast as just indifference.

"Oh, you know each other?" I wondered, trying to look surprised. Even when I wasn´t an expert on people's feelings and emotions, I knew that pretending to be amazed was a best point to analyze the situation than having them both knowing I knew. It wouldn´t be helpful in any way. I stared right at Tallulah eyes, feeling _sorry_ for her, but not really sure why.

"Yeah. I was the one in charge of their tour book." Answered her with a defeated expression.

When Sam changed the focus of attention to her, I surreptitiously turned to Harry, who had his eyes boring holes on her red head. I already knew there was a girl in his life that somehow hurt him, but now that I had the possibility to get another point of view, I could see things with a right perspective. Both sides' perspectives.

He looked murderous at the same time that he… Well, there's no other way to put it, but he looked at Tallulah almost adoringly behind the hatred. Like you would look at the Zeus statue in Greece or the David. Something worth of worship. It gave me the chills and the look wasn´t even dedicated to me.

I paid attention again just in time to see Dougie smiling widely at Tallulah. "Do you want to join us?" He offered, standing up. It surprised me how much it cost me to look at him and find him smiling like that. Apparently, he wasn´t all the time frowning. Only around me.

It hurt, but I wasn´t sure why, and I hated it.

Tallulah smiled back. "That would be lovely." She stated, but it was clear to any observer that it wasn´t lovely at all. She looked tense as all the arrangements for them to sit with us were made, and when Sid sat next to me, I was momentarily forced to pay attention to other thing.

"You look wonderful tonight." He said, grinning as he grabbed my hand. Sid leaned to me, and kissed my cheek sweetly, surprising me and more than probably making me blush.

"Th-thanks." I murmured. It was amazing just how much a simple physical contact could disturb me so much.

"So, it's a small world, huh?" Tom grinned. He clearly sensed the tension in the air, sitting next to Harry, and tried to lighten up the mood with his smile. It was surprising that it didn´t actually work, since it did relaxed me a little.

Even Danny noticed the tension, and he diverted his eyes towards Harry every few seconds. So the relationship Tallulah and Harry had was official… It seemed like that changed everything, but I couldn´t see how. Maybe both were commitment-phobics and that was why it was so important for them what they had and so hurtful to not have it anymore.

"Who would have thought that Dougie's sister's boyfriend's sister was dating Tallulah's cousin?" Danny asked, almost nervously. I could tell silence wasn´t a thing he enjoyed. Even Sam was surprised with the predicament, but she was smarter than them and observed. Much like me.

Jazzie, who had been silent for the most part, opened her eyes wide at Danny's words. " Yeah." She said mockingly, with a side-grin. "Because _that _is completely reasonable."

"Hey, hey. There's not even seven degrees there! Se we're even closer than the Facebook's theory. It's impressive!" Danny insisted excitedly.

"I have some impressive thing for you." My brother smirked. He and Jazzie were really quiet when they were together with other people, but I knew that most of that time was spent looking adoringly into each other's eyes. They were the perfect cute sickest lovely couple. "The woman that took my application when I started to work in Starbucks when I was younger was the friend of the mother of the bestfriend of the sister of my sister's boyfriend at that time. But neither my sis nor her boyfriend knew the girl." Jagger said proud of himself. I didn´t find it funny, really, but it was one of his favorite stories to tell in groups. However, he seemed to realize something as he turned to me and winked. "Sorry, mate." He said to Sid, but strange enough, he slid his glance casually to Dougie for an instant. Why would he do that? "Didn´t mean to put you in an awkward position…"

"Not taken, dude. I know Sal here had other boyfriends; she's way to perfect not to." Sid answered with a wide grin. Even when I can sound wrong –and boring to read-, I have to say that it surprised me a lot the way Sid took charge of every situation, moving it to his favor. It was like a puppet master that made everyone danced at his smile. And he had an impressive ability to adapt to every kind of situation.

He was the perfect pretend boyfriend.

"Yeah, well… But it doesn´t annoy you to know that there was someone before you? Don´t you want to know every single detail of what she did with them just so you could properly hate them?" My brother pressed, ignoring my intense glare. It wasn´t like I had many boyfriends, anyway. But it didn´t seem to work.

At least not on Sid. Douglas, on the other hand, was boring holes in my brother's head, but that was probably just for the race camaraderie.

"No, not really. She's with me now, and that's all that matter." Sid stated, not following Jagger's mind games.

"Oh, boy." Sam sighed. "Salem, your boyfriend is fantastic." She said almost dreamily, and I blushed. Yeah, he was perfect, I wasn´t going to deny it. But… he wasn´t my boyfriend.

I was about to say something like "thanks, I know", one of those phrases you heard so much in television or books about relationships, but Tallulah interrupted me by standing up. She looked ready to burst.

"Sid, I forgot my jacket in the car and it's getting chilly here. I'll go pick it up." Tallulah said with a fake smile, and then she stormed off without waiting for a reply.

"Oh…" Danny murmured. Tallulah's departure had leaved us all a little awkward, because it was clear she wasn´t cold and that she probably wasn´t thinking in coming back. Not soon enough at least. "Well, who wants lobster?" Danny exclaimed happily.

When I looked up, I found out that our food had being taken to the table and was being placed in front of us. I noticed Harry was stiff in his chair, tense and boiling with a feeling of some sort, but it felt too intimate to be witnessing that, so instead I turned to look at Sid.

"Do you think Tallulah is going to be ok?" I wondered in a low voice, as I put my plate of lobsters between us. He hadn't had time to order and it wasn´t like I was going to eat all that. I may sound prissy, but I hate to eat with my hands and get all dirty.

Sid grinned. His grin was as permanent as Douglas frown when he was around me. "She is. She'll find a way to be just fine, even if it is by killing him."

I looked at him surprised. Could it be? I didn´t really know them enough to know they weren´t psychotic killers. But that wasn´t logical. "You're joking." I stated.

He arched an eyebrow and a second later, he burst out laughing. "Of course, girl. You're amusing." Sid declared, putting his arm around my shoulders. I think I blushed, because _amusing_ can be interpreted as _funny_ and I don´t think that _funny_ is an altogether thing to be. Not really sure now…

"You think everything _way_ too much. We'll have to work on that." Sid said, touching the tip of my nose once.

"What?" Douglas snapped, taking Sid and me by surprised. We both turned to look at him, thinking that maybe, just maybe, he was just talking to another one in the table. "You want to change her?"

No, he was _definitely _talking to Sid. And he was so stump that he didn´t have a quick answer to that like he normally would.

It was a really confusing thing for him to say. So confusing and abrupt, in fact, that I did something I had never –almost never- done before.

"Well, why would you care?" I snapped back, without thinking _at all_ my words. If I was one of those girly girls that put on paper all the important events on their lives, I would have to put that day in my diary. But I wasn´t. And I didn´t leave it just in that almost impolite question. Instead, I went on, which probed how tense and nervous and awkward had my relation with Douglas Poynter made me feel. "You don´t like me the way I am, anyway. Shouldn´t you be happy for me to change?"

Douglas just stared at me, even more surprised than myself for the way I replied. But, nevertheless, I felt proud of me. Somehow. I knew one of my flaws was that I over think everything and I hated that of me, because I normally wasn´t able to reply to any kind of insult. I had suffered that during my college years, but I wasn´t able to change it. And now, sitting in a restaurant with a plate of lobsters next to me, I did it as if it was…_normal_.

I couldn´t stop grinning, no matter how unreasonable that was. My instincts overpower my brain for once.

"Oh, honey…" Sid turned back at me after a nasty look at Douglas that I _almost _missed. He looked at me as if he felt sorry for something. What, I didn´t have the slightest idea, but that state of mind was starting to be a permanent on me. "Maybe he's right… You know I love you the way you, right? I'm not trying to change you as an egoist and egocentric impulse." Sid declared, marking his last words and he glared at Douglas. "I don´t want you to feel like I want to change you."

"It's… ok…" I murmured, staring at my hands because my cheeks were blushing so much it amazed me I could still think.

Sid chuckled. "You're the cutest girl, Sal. I love you." He said with an adoring tone. When I looked up, Sid's face was too close for comfort. But he winked at me before I could move back, and he took advantage of my surprised stare to leane down to me and kissed me softly in the lips.

Risking to be prosecute by the Repetition Police, I'm going to say I was more than _surprised_. It's not as cliché as if I hadn´t been kissed at all before, but I really hadn´t expected him to do it. Which, actually, speaks of my poor understanding of people's emotions and almost everything that isn´t theory.

It wasn´t one of those kisses you normally see at the end of romantic flicks that last for hours and are mind-blowing, but a sweet short kiss. It was over before I could get over my amazement, and Sid chuckled again, kissing the tip of my nose.

I'm not sure why, but as soon as I could get control again over my surroundings, I glanced once at Douglas, and found him glaring at us, with his hand over the knife and fork so tight his knuckles were white. It was a scary sight.

"Excuse me."

Harry stood up, even angrier than Douglas, and stormed off. He was following Tallulah, I was sure of it, and that's the reason why I didn´t try to look outside the restaurant for them. They had something personal and intimate to discuss and the anthropologist in me knew that she could get the answers later.

However, I was forced to look through the large windows opened towards the garage when Sid nuzzled his nose against my neck in a loving way that made me remember of a dog. "See? You can act without thinking. I'm proud of you." He whispered, his wide grin was clearly listened in his voice. That made me think that he was enjoying the situation, annoying Douglas, which in turn took my mind to what Douglas had said. Why would he really care if I changed or not? Hadn´t I probed he didn´t like me like in the chick flicks? It was difficult to ponder that maybe I was wrong and he _did_ like me, because that was a predicament as strange to real life like the Rabbit Hole in Alice's. And we all know it was just a dream. I didn´t want to make assumptions about a fact that wasn´t real because. It would make me feel stupid when he laughed at me for even thinking it.

Because he would laugh. It was ridiculous.

And I was going to stop pondering that impossible option.

"Thanks, Sid." I smiled at him, deciding on ignoring Douglas for the rest of the day.

It worked well in my behalf, because when ignoring him, I could ignore a lot of things he caused, like tense atmospheres and rude comments. However, by ignoring Douglas I had to pay attention to things I normally didn´t. Like Jazzie's suspicious glance at me and her brother, or my brother's glare at Sid, or even Sam's knowing smile. When Sid, after finishing the food, offered to take me out to eat ice-cream, I rejoiced in the opportunity to stay away. So we said our goodbyes and marched to the garage while the rest stayed inside for dessert and coffee –except for Harry, who hadn´t come back. And neither did Tallulah.

"Oh, bollocks."

Sid stopped at some empty place in the garage, making me stop with him because we had our hands interlinked. He looked murderous for a second, but it was gone too fast to think about it.

"Nicky took my car." He explained, kicking a stone in the floor annoyed. "I'll cut her hair while she sleeps, I swear."

I smiled at him, finding the situation amusing. "Don´t be too hard on her, she needed to escape. She's probably sorting things out with Harry right now."

"Oh, so you're not as naïve as I thought…" Sid murmured, grinning. "You noticed it, too?"

"Yeah. It was pretty clear for the way he kept glaring at her." I explained. It surprised me that no one else had.

Sid nodded, and offered me a mysterious smile. "so you notice that, but you don´t…" He trailed off, but didn´t finish his phrase and instead passed an arm around my shoulders, letting go of my fingers. "Well, how much against a romantic walking in the sand are you?"

"Not at all." I laughed.

He chuckled, and guided me towards the beach, chatting about the first things that popped into his mind, much like "The Walrus and The Carpenter". It made me think that maybe it was his influence the one that made me act like I had with Douglas.

We walked all our way back to his town, and he took me to his mother pub to eat ice-cream. The place was great, it looked as if it was out of a book and I loved it immediately. When he took me back to the house with his mother's car, it was already after supper –we had eaten it in the pub- and the place was silent, as if everyone were sleeping.

"Thank you, really, Sid. You're the best." I said smiling up at him. He grinned.

"It's my pleasure, really. You're funny and cute and pretty. We only need to work on your thinking and your people-radar. I'll help you with that." He stated, letting go of my shoulders and kissing my cheek.

"Really?" I asked, against what my brain was thinking. I chuckled. "I think it's already working."

"That's great. Well… I'll go now, or someone is going to kill me with its laser eyes." Sid joked, kissing my forehead and walking to his car. I watched him go before entering the house.

"He didn´t rape me, Jagger. Stop being so overprotective." I muttered angry out loud as I closed the door behind me. When I turned around, I didn´t see my brother standing there by the living room entrance.

It was Douglas.

"Jesus Christ!" I exclaimed, scared to find him there and not who I thought was there. He frowned at me. "No need to yell like a banshee. People are trying to sleep here, you know? Because that's what people do _normally_." Douglas declared, too aggressive to be normal. Again, the idea that he maybe liked me crossed my mind and this time I couldn´t flick it off as easily as the other times.

"It's not my fault that you scared me." I muttered, slightly annoyed. All I have been talking with Sid made noise in my brain and slightly I was starting to understand the implications. I needed to stop thinking about all the ramifications of my words and actions, at least for a second and _at least_ with Douglas, because nothing I said or did seemed to be right and everything annoyed him and made him angry. "And why aren´t you sleeping, then? Were you waiting for me? That's my _brother's_ job." I added louder. And when I put it like that, I wondered exactly where _was_ my brother. He was the type of overprotective brother to stay there until I was safely tucked into my bed with my door and windows closed, locked and the key flushed down the toilet. It was weird that he wasn´t there, and that worried me. Was he sick? Was he-…?

"I wasn´t _waiting for you_, O'Shea. I was just trying to relax my mind watching TV. But when a strange vehicle turns into my driveway I tend to wonder who's trying to break into my house." He snapped, almost viciously. If the lights were on, I would have seen his face all flustered. Instead, I looked at him with a feeling I wasn´t used to feel.

I was _furious_. And offended. And a little bit ashamed of myself for thinking wrong, unreasonable things, but that was over-powered by the first feelings.

"It was a wrong assumption from my part, but you don´t need to be so rude about it. But seeing what statistics are with you I should be used to you been just unbearable and generally impolite. Good night, Poynter." I said with an unfamiliar tone, walking towards the stairs. As I spoke, my anger dissipated into thin air, and I was left with only embarrassment. Douglas had the strange ability to set me off entirely with just a couple of words, and I felt at the verge of tears for some unreasonable reason.

Oh, and I wanted to hit him, which was even more illogical.

I stopped before the second step.

Thankfully, instead of maintained a pretty illogic rage against him, I keep my mental control. "I'm sorry, I shouldn´t have said those things…" I muttered with a weird voice, trying to keep my emotions check, and turned around to keep going.

Behind me, I heard Douglas sighed.

"... Wait." He said in a low voice. "… Ugh… Sorry, ok? I… I didn´t mean to sound so pissed and rude…"

I turned around completely to have a better look at his face, thinking that maybe that would help me to understand what he was saying. Since the lights were off, it didn´t work and I was as confused as before.

"Anyway…" Douglas went on, turning his face to the wall at his left. "I'm glad he didn´t rape you…" He muttered, almost reluctantly, but after some seconds, he wondered, as if not entirely sure: "He didn´t, right?"

I blushed, completely speechless, but I shook my head frantically. Where did he got that kind of ideas? And why did he really care? Actually, **did** he _really_ care? The situation was confusing me completely and throwing me off hand. Douglas, civil conversation, and me as her interlocutor was not a common thing, and it was practically impossible.

"Good…. Did you… have a good time?"

"What?" I said out loud without really thinking, too amazed to do so. He repeated his question with an awkward tone. "Oh…um…" I thought over my answer because, for **once**, probably the first time ever in my life, I had to repress the impulse of speaking without thinking. _Why do you want to know?_ didn´t seem like a good thing to ask when he was being civil for the first time. "… Yeah? We had… ice-cream…"

"That's nice." He stated, and I nodded. What else could I say?

"… There was a lizards' especial tonight in Animal Planet…"

That was one of those times when I knew my new ability to speak what went through my mind could be wrong. Most of the things _what went through my mind_ in a daily basis was of that kind –as my brother Jagger would say, _nerd_ kind-, and I knew that many people would be put off by my words.

Like Douglas.

He stared at me for a long, long time, and I contemplated excusing myself and going to bed and saved myself from further humiliation. If I had to choose, the previous feeling of surprise and annoy were slightly better than this awkwardness and embarrassment.

But to my great amazement, Douglas' lips draw a small grin as he turned to me. When I noticed my eyes were fixated on his lips, I blushed furiously, and thanked the lord and everything I could think of for the lights been off.

"I know, that's what I was watching." He said, doing a small head gesture towards the living room. "Want to… watch it with… me?" Douglas asked slowly.

"Oh…" I murmured surprised. "I'm… uhm… tired. I walked all day long." I smiled, feeling a sudden burst of guiltiness. Something inside me, a part as external as Peter Cricket, told me I had chosen the worst set of words I could choose –and, to be honest, the worst option out of the two, too-, but I wasn´t sure why. Douglas Poynter didn´t like me. At all. He said it himself. "But… hum….thanks. Good night, Douglas." I waved at him, and practically ran to my room, closing the door.

I hated the feeling of uneasiness that my words threw upon me.


	7. VI: Let yourself go wild

**VI**

_**Tallulah**_

I stopped the car near the beach once I was back in the town. I didn´t want to see Sid, or risking seeing Harry again, so I decided to look for a place in the sand, out of people's eyes, hidden, and just lay there. With the car keys and my ipod in my hands –the only important things I had with me because I refused to care for the shoes-, I jumped down the road to the warm sand and started walking.

There was something inside me that was wishing the Manolos were snatched from the car, and be over with them. I wasn't able to throw them –I bet you _wouldn't_ either, so there- and keeping them was a constant reminder of _him_.

My dress was still wet, and I had properly soaked the driver's seat in the car, but despites the heavy fabric, I felt lighter than I had felt since everything happened with Harry. I wasn´t the most perceptive girl in the world, but I knew Nikko had helped me a lot with something I didn´t want to admit I had inside. Feeling sad and unwanted and basically like trash wasn´t something I was used to.

Just like I wasn´t used to be rejected.

"No, stop it." I said to myself, shaking my head. "Stop thinking on him, Tallulah. It's not healthy." I muttered, sitting in the sand near the edge of the woods, so I was hidden from the road and the rest of the beach unless you looked real closer.

I sighed. "Who are you, girl? Avoiding attention? That's just not like you. You've lost your muchness entirely…"

I turned on my Ipod, and blasted the volume, putting the playlist in random, as I took off my dress and put it next to me to dry it. I had my bikini under it, so it wasn´t like I was flashing the world with my underwear. And, anyway, there wasn´t many people in the beach to be flashed. Besides, at least I had a nice body to flash, right?

Closing my eyes, I lied down on the warm sand, and, slowly, I drifted off to Dreamland. It wasn´t as good a land as it used to be back in the days. Everything had at least a tiny reference to He Who Must Not Be Named From Now On. His eyes, his voice, his touch, his suitcase, my favorite pair of his boxers, the small, tiny, almost invisible freckles he had on his lower abdomen… Everything.

I woke up cold and nostalgic when the sun was setting. I was completely alone in the beach, but it didn´t scared me. Even when it should. The only thing that surprised me, actually, was my mobile ringing with Ian's ringtone. I pick it up from between my breast, where I had totally forget I put it, but I didn´t have time to even speak.

"_Where are you, girl?_" My cousin's voice cut the silence of the beach like a knife. "_I'm worried sick for you! Are you alone? Is Harry with you? Are you shagging him in MY car?_"

I giggled. "I'm at the beach. Yes. No. And **definitely **no." I answered every single one of his question, but it took him so time to realized which answer was to which question. I could heard him muttering.

"_Wait… You're _alone_, in the __beach__._"

"Yes, I am."

"….. _ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY, DEMENTED IDIOT?_" He yelled, furious.

"Ian, calm down. I fall asleep here and then…"

"_YOU FALL ASLEEP ALONE IN THE BEACH? Someone could have rape you, idiot! Do you have your underwear on?_"

"Let me check…" I muttered, enjoying myself. Just in case, I did look down. Of course, I had my bikini on. "Oh… Ian…. I… I'm n-naked…."

"…_WHAT? Oh, god, I'll kill him! Who did that, huh? I'm going there!_" Ian snapped.

"No, no! Wait, I was jocking! I'm perfectly fine! Jeez, you worry too much." I interrupted him, humphing.

Ian chuckled. "_I knew it, babe. Gotcha._" He laughed.

"Stupid wanker…" I muttered, angry with him for just the smallest of seconds.

"_Well, you disappeared with my car and left me and Salem to walk back to town from the restaurant_."

"… Oops?" I had totally forgotten about _that_. "Sorry. I just…"

"_Yeah, you didn´t think it. Were you running away of the boy, then?_"

"…Somewhat…" It was surprising how well he knew me. "We had a discussion and… well, going back didn´t seem like a good thing to do."

Even through the phone, I could heard his grin. "_It probably wasn´t. Before shooting you up with interrogations, let me ask you one thing. Are you ok now?_"

I smiled. "Yeah, I think I am."

"_Great, now that we got that solved… Where the hell were you?_" Ian snapped.

"Just around." I said vaguely, still pondering if I should tell him about Nikko now or not. What if the boy never called back and disappeared into thin air? He would be completely pissed and he would want to kill him. "Are you with Salem?"

"_Yes, she's in the bathroom now but don´t change the subject! Around where_?" He protested.

I sighed. Knowing my cousin as I did, it was clear to me that any kind of way to _change the subject_ was going to be futile. But I was too stubborn to just admit that. "Around the cliffs. I drove and drove and I suddenly was there. It's a beautiful place, Ian, really. Why did you never take me there? It's so perfect for-…"

"_Oh, god. If you tell me you jumped off the cliff I'll go there right now and I'll kill you. Mark my word._"

Well, so I only have other option there.

"I met a boy." I said slowly.

Suddenly I was feeling like a teenage girl presenting her crush to her family. _Weird…_.

Ian chuckled. "_A boy, huh?_"

"Yeah… He saw me when I was… thinking, sitting in the cliff, and he approached me. We talked for a while. He's really nice."

"_You _liked_ him_." Ian accused, but he was smirking, I just knew it.

I laughed. "Maybe…"

"_Well, then. That's just perfect! You have my complete blessing._"

"You make it sound as if I was getting married, which I'm not."

"_Of course not, but he's the first guy you're interested in since…well, since __that__, so it's quite important._"

"Fine. I was going to reply to that, but I won't. I'll just smile and say that you may be right."

"_That's fine with me. So, this guy…_"

"He's name is Nikko, if you're so keen to know."

"_Nikko, you say? As in Nikko Gretsken?_"

"I don´t know his last name, but it's quite possible. Anyway, do you know him?" I wondered, thinking for the first time that maybe it was a good idea to get some background for myself. He could be a drug dealer for all I knew. And, seriously, how could I've ever think they were not going to meet each other in such a small town?

"_Yeah. We were in the same football team half college. He's cool. In your standards, you could do so much worse…_" Ian replied, grinning. I wanted to hit him.

I stood up, putting my dress back. "Salem is going to be back any minute now. Don´t fall for her, ok, _Sid_?"

"_Believe me, if I do fall, I'll have much more troubles than yourself. But I won´t. I'm just helping her_."

"Yeah. Keep that in mind." I joked. "Is there any other place to get a drink or eat something in this town?" I asked as an afterthought. I didn´t want to go with my cousin now, I wanted to be alone.

… Alone with the biggest shot of alcohol I could get my hands on.

"_There's Socially Awkward, six blocks down my house. This can be a small town, but it's not Alaska, girl._" Ian laughed.

"Yeah, yeah. Not like you've ever been to Alaska, anyway. I'll see you in the house, ok? Bye!" I said, and then hung up.

Walking up to the car, I turned off the Ipod that was still blasting from the straps of my bikini where I had put them when I woke up, and as soon as I was sitting in the driver's sit –still a little wet-, my mobile started to ring again.

"Hello, Tallulah here in a mission!" I said in a sing-song voice. From the other side, someone chuckled.

"_And what mission that is, if it is liable to be known by humanity as a whole, Galaxy Defender?_" A male's voice said trough the phone. I knew it was a familiar voice, but I couldn´t quite place it.

"A mission of mentalledity! But I don´t accept any partner, sorry. It's a solo mission." I stated.

"_Not even an old friend you totally ignored since you fought with his other friend?_"

"Tom!" I exclaimed, recognizing his tone of voice now. Not my brightest moment, of course, because _who else_ would call me Galaxy Defender? "You're always going to be admitted in my missions. How are you?"

"_Well, seeing as you totally ignored me today… A little worried. You'll hate me for asking, but are you ok?_"

"Not completely, but I'm close to…" I sighed. Why did everyone was so stubborn about making me think of Harry when I clearly didn´t want to? That was almost as annoying as having everyone around me asking me if I was ok. I wasn't a ragged porcelain doll, I could handle myself pretty good.

"_I'm glad, Lulah. So, about this mission you were talking about…_"

I giggled, starting the car. "You're invited. But you can´t bring… other people. It's my party."

"_Ok, I'll won't bring other people. Can Danny come, then? He'll go as a pet_." He chuckled.

"Yeah, Danny is invited. Dougie too. Even your sister, and her boyfriend." I laughed.

"_Oh, so you know where Salem is, then?_" Tom wondered, a tone way too casual –and fake, mind you- to be taken seriously.

"… Yeah? She's with my cousin. They really hit if off, you know?" I said, attentive to every sign of Tom. "They went for a romantic walk on the sand today and he's making dinner for her. They're way too cute. I'll tell you something because I trust you not to repeat it but… I think she might be the one for him." I added with a dreamy tone, pressing the matter. I heard a weird noise in the other end of the line and grinned. "Tom, am I in speaker?"

"_What? No!_" His response was too fast and nervous. _Clearly lying_.

"Are you in the bathroom, Tom? You always do that! Normal people don´t want to know about your loo habits, boy." I laughed. They didn´t need to know I knew.

Tom laughed nervously. "_Sorry, won´t happen again. So, we'll meet you… where, exactly?_"

"How much do you know of the town, huh?"

"_Nothing at all_."

"Boy, you're thick." I mocked him. "Ok, when you get in, asked for _Socially Awkward_. Anyone who isn´t drunk yet could probably indicate you the way. Or I'll go for you if you get lost."

"_Ok, safe. See you in a bit, then_."

"Yeah. Bye!" I hung up the phone and leaved it in the passenger sit next to my Ipod. I stopped the car again, wondering what should I do. As much as I didn´t mind going by myself to a pub, I didn´t feel like waiting for them there, and I knew for sure they were going to take at least forty minutes, if I was lucky, to get ready. They said girls were slow… That's because they never, _ever_ saw how much time Tom took to decided his clothes or how much time Dougie needed to do his hair, or how much time Danny complained about the perfect set of boxers. But there wasn´t much else I could do until the hour arrived.

… Except for maybe getting changed?

"Yes, smart girl. That sounds like a great idea." I laughed at my own stupidity as I started the car again and drove towards my aunt's house. As I had expected, she wasn´t there, and somehow, that didn´t make me as happy as I thought it would. Turning on the lights, I went upstairs.

It was an almost unfamiliar house to me, and I was alone there, and I had seen way too many horror movies to know what could happen. So I knew what I could expect. And yes, I know I was fed up by myself, but… who really cares?

I closed the door of my room behind me, and closed the windows so I could take off my clothes. Everyone knew that in small towns there always was a kinky old bastard that spied on little girls as me self, and I wasn´t going to risk becoming the wet dream of some disgusting pervert. I grabbed a towel, and went towards the bathroom to have a shower.

The hot water worked as a magical balsam, and when I finally turned the water off, I felt like new. Water and showers had that effect in me –and almost the rest of the entire population, but hush-. I went back to my room and started to dry my hair as I looked over my whole wardrobe.

I wanted to look sexy, and wonderful, and beautiful and still… _approachable_. I didn´t want to be a Paris Hilton there. And no Manolo heels, either. I didn´t want to have _anything _that reminded me of Harry in any possible way.

It was quite difficult to find an outfit that didn´t, but I finally, somehow, managed to do so. My Alexander McQueen black skull and lace-print tank, with a pair of Current/Elliott shorts, my red Brian Atwood peep-toes and my black Christian Louboutin leather and chain bag. I put there my mobile, the keys, and some makeup, and then sat in front of the mirror to get my hair done and put some makeup too.

By the time I was ready and phoned Tom, he was already lost. I sighed, walking out of the house and towards the car, assuring him to wait for me in the first street when he got into the town. I don´t know how they did it, but when I was there, Dougie's car was there too, so I indicated them to follow me trough my amazing front lights, and started the car again.

I observed the inside of Doug's car trough my mirror. There were three people there, but I couldn´t quite discerned each of them. Except for Tom, but only because I knew he was there. I should have looked better, because if I had done so, I would have been able to run away in the opposite direction.

Or grab a gun and get all psycho.

Or suicidal.

Instead, I trusted Tom and only stopped and wondered how had they left Harry behind when I walked out of my car and put the alarm on, going to the door of _Socially Awkward_. It was the kind of place you would expect in an American soap opera about northest Ireland, or something. I liked it with only one look.

But when I turned around to smiled at my friends… my face dropped.

"… I knew it!" I exclaimed, furious. They hadn´t managed to get Harry behind because he was fucking standing there with them! He was almost as surprised as I was to see me there, but he had _at least_ time to processed it. He had heard Tom speaking to me, he could had just get away. "You're not welcome here, go find another pub." I ordered, glaring daggers at Harry, but he just glared back.

"I'm not going anywhere, slut." He said viciously, walking to the door with calculated movements. He wanted to irritated me, to infuriated me. I hated him more than ever.

"It's _my_ place!" I protested.

"It's a _free_ country!" Harry replied, mocking cruelly my tone of voice. "If you're so adamant in not seeing me, you can just go and find _yourself_ a different pub. I'm staying here."

"Guys…" Started Tom, but both Harry and I ignored him. we were on a roll.

"I was here first! Get away!" I'll admit it now, that was probably one of my worst tantrums, but I was feeling so frustrated, so… betrayed, that I only wanted a table, a glass, and the biggest bottle of alcohol I could pay.

Harry thought it better, stopping before going in. Then, a sadistic smirk crossed his face. I hated myself for finding him sexy. "Nope. Are you coming, boys?" He asked, opening the door and disappearing into the pub. I contemplated turning around and leaving, but that was like admitting defeated, and I wasn´t going to do that.

"Come on, Lulah, let's all be friends for a while!" Danny said, giving me a one arm hug. I glared at him so much he retrieved his arm as if I had burned him.

It wouldn´t have surprised me if I actually did. That kind of intensity must get out in some way or another.

"I swear, he had only good intentions and I only found out the last second. I would have called you, but Danny kidnap my mobile…" Tom sighed. "It's ok if you want to kill us and get away."

"I'm not going away." I assured. "But that doesn´t mean I'm not wanting to kill you and that I won´t ruin your night." I stated, following them inside.

By some malicious twist of faith, I sat with the three of them. I decided that if Harry wanted to mess _my_ night, I was going to do the same with his –and while I was at it, also Tom's and Danny's-. So I _completely_ ignored him, even more than he tried to ignore me. I'm proud to say that every time I stood up, his eyes drifted to my legs, and I started to cross them and uncrossed them under the table because I knew that turned him on; I even tried as much as I could to _touch_ him while I did that.

Not only half an hour had gone by, and his eyes were shining deliriously furious. I was really proud of myself, and I coultdn´t get rid of my superior smirk.

"Oi, Dans?" I said in my sweetest voice. He looked up almost scared; I had been the biggest bitch in the world for the past few minutes. "Would you please get it to move? It's blocking an amazing view…" I sighed dreamily, tilting my head to the side. For the corner of my eyes, I saw his glance flickered, but he contained before looking back.

"Danny, could you tell that that we don´t need any prostitute?" He said, the viciousness he intended much clearer in his voice. I think I blushed, but, thank god, I didn´t show real emotion in my face.

"Oh, come on. Stop this, is stupid. Harry, you know it's just Tallulah, and Tallulah, you know Harry's there. Behave like grown-ups!" Danny ordered. That phrase was so funny coming from him that I almost laughed.

Instead, my smirk widened when I saw the group of boys taking over the pool table directly behind Harry. Things couldn´t have gone better if I had planned them myself. "Fine, I'll do that." I said with a sweet smile, standing up. As I walked past Harry, I swayed my hips as sensually as I could –which was pretty damn sensual, mind you-, and I could feel Harry's –and almost everyone's seeing as I was the only girl with legs and short shorts on in the bar- eyes on my bum.

I laid my hips carelessly against the pool table. "Mind if I join you?" I asked out loud, getting the attention of the whole group, but looking only to one boy. He took two seconds to recognized me, but he offered me the widest of grins when he did.

"Red!" He exclaimed happily, coming to me and offering me a one-arm hug. "See? You look much better smiling than sad, that's what it took me so long to recognize you."

"Oh, are you saying I'm not just as gorgeous all the time?" I asked pouting and batting my eyelashes. Instead of staring at me breasts drooling, he laughed the comment off.

"Of course you are. But smiles suit you better than chocolate sauce to ice-cream." Nikko stated.

"A match made in heaven…" I sighed.

"Oh, come here, I'll introduce you to my friends. Here we have Chris, Topher, Brant and Damon. Guys, this is Red." I waved to them, smiling. None of them were as incredibly attractive as Nikko, mind you, but they were also interesting to look at. Nikko stared at me for an instant and then frowned. "Are you here by yourself, dressed like that, and you managed to stay alone?" He wondered in a joking tone, nudging my side.

"I was waiting for you! Didn´t Snow White said it before? Someday my prince will come and yada yada?" I retorted, laughing.

"Another Disney fan, huh?" Asked the brunette boy introduced as Topher, arching an eyebrow. "I don´t know where Niks get them, really. Hot, funny, and Disney fan…"

"It must be the blonde hair." Added Brant, tilting his cute face to the side as if in great thoughts.

"Nah, I'll go for the piercing." Offered Damon with a devilish grin.

"Idiot, we all have the same piercing, remember? We got it when Toph turned 16?" The last one Chris corrected, hitting the back of Damon's head with the pool stick. They reminded me of the Lost Boys somehow, which meant that… Nikko was Peter Pan? I almost laughed at that, but listening to them going on and on about him was much more funny.

"Not that piercing, the _other_ one!" Damon corrected, and after two seconds, the rest of his friends looked at him with understanding.

"Just ignored them, they're mentalled. Thinking about it, they're mentalled _and _high. And I took them out of the loony house for a walk because they used to be my classmates." Nikko interrupted, arching his pretty eyebrows.

"Don´t believe Sir Niks, Fair Maiden. He's just too _shy_." Stated Topher with a really posh London accent. It reminded me of Harry.

_Shut it, Tallulah._

"He doesn´t look it, though. Are you telling me he's _lying_?" I asked, following the game. I already liked Nikko's friends. They were fun.

"He most certainly is." Nodded Brant.

"So bad of him." Said Topher shaking his head.

"But, Fair Mariann, you got the Merrymen here to brighten up your night if Robin's not working well." Offered Damon with a wink, sliding an arm around my waist, winking at me. I laughed out loud.

"Well, I always liked more Will Scarlett, you know?"

"Oh, you're wounding me!" Exclaimed Nikko dramatically, putting his hands over his chest, where his heart was. "And I thought you had being waiting for me!"

"I don´t know _where_ you got that idea." I laughed. "I was waiting for alcohol, but you were… second? Third? Fourth? Best. Oh! And I actually came here with my friends… and a ficus…" I added in a lower voice, pointing to the table behind us. The five boys followed my hand, but Tom, Danny and the ficus had gone back to their drinking. I shrugged. I was having too much fun, anyway, and I didn´t need the ficus to ruin it for me.

"And she likes plants!" Brant said loudly. "Where's your ficus? I want to meet such an impressive plant."

I may or may not have blushed, but the situation was so funny as it was that I didn´t thought much when I answered. "It's not _my_ ficus. It's just _a_ ficus that one of my friends brought here." I stated.

Damon put his head on my shoulders –almost kneeling to reach it-. "Which one is the ficus?" He whispered.

"I'll say… the taller one." Offered Nikko pointing at Harry's neck.

"Wow, you two are good." I declared.

"Of course we are!" Laughed Nikko out loud, winking at me as Damon let go of my waist. "Hey, Amy!" He called. A tall blonde girl turned around near the table and sighed when she saw who was calling her.

"Hello, boys. Getting in troubles, again?" She asked arching her eyebrows. She was older than all of us, but she was still under 30.

"Nope, not at all." Answered Brant shaking his head of curly dark mahogany hair.

"We're good boys!" Assured Topher.

"Practically angels." Finished Chris.

"We only need a round." Started Nikko, and Damon interrupted him before he could add anything else.

"For the Friends!" He exclaimed happily, pointing to Tom's table. Tom was watching them amused and interested, but he had a friend there whose side he was supposed to take. "For leaving poor Red to mingle by herself and ending up in our clutches!"

"But we're _still_ good. Don´t get ideas in your head, Amy." Topher pointed out.

I watched attentively as the Amy girl walked with three beers towards the McTable, waiting for their reaction… Ok, waiting to see how _Him_ would react. I knew him enough to know he was way too proud to accept anything send by Nikko, but I wasn´t sure if he would jeopardize his fame by throwing a major tantrum.

Even when that would be fun to watch.

But maybe amusing me was not in his top list, either.

From my position, I could only see Tom's and part of Danny's faces. The first one smiled at the girl and accepted the beer. But Danny looked at it concerned after turning to look at Him, confused with what was he supposed to do. It didn´t take him enough to realize the correct behavior, and he didn´t accept the beer.

"Don´t cause any ruckus, boys." Amy said in a worried tone, eyeing both Nikko and his friends and Tom, Danny and Him.

"We won´t, Amy. Why do you insist on thinking so bad of us?" Topher pouted.

"It wounds us! It seems as if you don´t like us!"

"It's because I know you guys." She said with a laugh, going to another table calling her.

When my eyes decided to focus on real life, and stop wondering in the back of my head about unicorns and rainbows and how beautiful life would be if I was in an island in the Caribbean, I saw the Three Mousketeers near us, clearly dragged there by a grinning Tom. He had probably used rhetoric to get them there, because neither Danny nor Harry looked pleased. But they weren´t going to make a scene. Tom could be really scary when he wanted to.

"Come on, guys. Don´t be rude." Tom muttered in a low voice, and then smiled at the boys. "Hey, thanks for the drinks."

"Drink. I have my own." Harry interrupted, obviously angry.

"And that's clearly the only thing you have." Retorted Damon, frowning at His snide remark, with almost maliciousness. I was starting to feel like Bella in the middle of a war between Werewolves and Vampires, and somehow, that idea relaxed me.

But now that I think of it, it wasn´t that idea, but the Blueberry Tequila I had ordered and downed in one sip in right very moment. Alcohol was like my chill pill in moments of tension, like that exact one. }everythin looked brighter when you watched it through a glass full of tequila. And since that wasn´t my first drink of the night, it started to get into my bloodstream faster than the rest. I wasn´t metalled yet, but doing my math, I only needed two or three drinks to go.

And I was going to have them just as fast as I could.

"I'll get it." I announced. I had probably zoned off longer than I thought, because they stared me when I spoke as if I had interrupted something. For what I understood, Tom had started conversation with the enemy and Harry was sulking because of that.

It made me sadistically happy, but wasn´t I allowed to be sadistic every once in a while?

"Dan's beer and the other beer." I pointed out walking toward the table the bottles were waiting. I wasn´t a huge fan of beer, but I wasn´t going to let it get to waste. Nikko was quicker than me, and hand me one, keeping the other to himself.

"We'll share!" He said with an undertone of maliciousness directed only at Harry, toasting his bottle with mine and sliding his arm over my shoulders.

"So you're Red's friends, huh?" Topher wondered, toying with the pool stick, making it twirl in his hands.

"Mm, yeah." Tom answered. I was seriously amazed by his ability to completely ignore Harry's mood. "I met her when she started working with us for the tour book."

"Tour book? What, you're famous?" Damon wondered from the other side of the pool table; in his tone, it was clear the fact that he could not see why would they be famous at all. I stared for a second at him surprised of his velocity to get _there_, but quickly forgot about that. It was something my mind didn´t want to think of then. There was always tomorrow to wonder about crazy superpowers. Like Scarlett O'Hara said.

"Kinda, yes." Tom said humble-ly.

"No, not kinda. We're bloody famous. We're known in the whole world." Harry snapped, his eyes shining with anger.

"Yeah? Well, that didn´t help you to get the girl, huh? I guess it makes sense, with so many countries to please with your presence…" Nikko grinned innocently, tapping his fingers against my shoulder. It could easily pass as a goodhearted comment, but I knew better. And Harry did too.

But he stared furiously at me, and snapped back, viciously. "Well, there are not many girls worth it, you know?"

I think I almost gasped at that. And it hurt. So that was why he stopped _calling_? Because I wasn´t worth it? I hated him even more after that, and decided my side in this _war_ without second thoughts.

"Oh, he's right, you know?" I said to Nikko, as sweetly as I could. "It has to be a very special girl to be worth to _work_ for a relationship and not just smiled and get her to accept his every command. Which, actually, it's just a different way to speak about cowardice, don´t you think? It's easier to blame _her_."

"What a way you have with words…" Harry sighed, mysteriously amazed, looking at me with apparent care. But the way he licked his upper lip slowly, I knew I needed to be prepared for his next words.

They were going to _sting_.

"The power of rhetoric, to twist up and down reality. Like what you did with my reputation? Remember that? You ruined it completely in England for a while with that story you published about me _hiting_ my supposedly ex-girlfriend? Just because you were _mad_ at me?"

I felt my cheeks reddening at his words, and Nikko's eyes on me. When you put it like that, I sounded like a major bitch.

"Yeah, quite a way with words. You never know what may get out of that pretty mouth she has."

"You really did that?" Wondered Chris, opening his eyes wide open.

I blushed even more, but decided to answer. "Yes. But…"

"Wow!" Topher started, amazed, interrupting me. "That's fantastic! Do you really have so much power?"

Harry looked at him surprised, probably wondering about his sanity, but it made me giggled. "It's just a thing on where to speak, actually."

"Wait!" Danny exclaimed. "It was _you_?"

_Oh, fuck…_

I had totally forgotten they didn´t know –and really, who could blame me? I was a traumatized girl with a broken heart! Hush-, so I diverted their attention as fast as I could. "Who's up for a game of pool?"

The next hour was torturous. At least, most of it. Tom, Chris, and Topher were the only ones who behaved. The rest kept throwing snide remarks to each other, pretending to be just having a good time. Harry didn´t change his attitude and kept making small comments about me filled with hatred and cruelty. It took me all my willpower to put a barrier between his words and me, because every single one of his phrases hurt like hell. At least, Nikko was at my side. He helped me to pay a little less attention to Him.

"Yeah, I could played professionally, but I didn´t. McFly was first." Danny stated, but I hadn´t been listening, so I didn´t understand what he was talking about, except that he was telling it to Brant. As the beers went by, the mood become more and more belligerent. "You've got the right mindset, but… I don´t think you're built quite right…" He continued, eyeing Brant apparently unbiased. But it was clear as water that the comment was meant as an insult.

Brant frowned, but Damon jumped up to defended his friends. "Yeah, he's right, Brant. Just think that you at least have the brains and don´t need that kind of things to get attention."

With 'that kind of things' he probably meant musicians too.

"Wouldn´t it be great if we lived in a world where the exterior wasn´t the most important?" Asked Harry with an innocent smile.

He was as innocent as I was.

"Well…. There _are _girls that prefers brains over a great ass." Stated Danny, and his friends looked at him as if he had change sides.

"I'd take Seth Rogen over Brad Pitt any day." I laughed.

"You would take the richest one over the rest, right?" Harry said viciously. I was about to reply, or throw my drink at him, but instead, Nikko intertwined his fingers with mines.

"Hey, do you know how to play snooker?" He asked, moving me in front of him and speaking near my ear. I grinned and shook my head. "Want me to teach you? It's not that difficult."

"That would be great." I accepted, nodding, ignoring Harry.

Nikko guided me to the table next to the one we were on, that was empty, and grabbed a pool stick. It was easy to see where he was aiming, and I followed his game. His hands went to my hips, positioning me in front of him, bending slightly over the table, and, casually, only half a meter away of Him. "Ok, so you grab it like this…" Nikko explained, leaning over me to show me how it was done, pressing his body to mine completely. I bended a little bit more, giving more angles to reach, sparing only one glance at Harry.

He was fuming, following every movement with his eyes like a hawk. I wanted to stick my tongue out at him and be all Nelson of The Simpsons yelling "NAHAH!" in his face. But right after doing that I realized that I was indeed a grown up woman and that was just plain stupid.

I focused on Nikko as much as I could, but I wasn´t able to relax. Not only because I was drunk enough to not have the slightest idea what everyone else was doing, or talking about, but also because I… I have never suspected just how really scared I could be of Harry's words. I would almost preferred him to hit me and get over with it, because his words were much more hurtful that his hands. It was easy to forget a bruise, especially when you were like me, but such crude comments…

How could I _ever_ forgive him for those?

"It's not as if she _cared._" Harry's voice came to me as if he were standing behind a half open door. I closed my eyes, waiting for a hit, somehow.

"Hey, Red. Don´t mind him." Nikko whispered in my ear, obviously noticing how I felt. Hell, practically everyone would noticed it if they look close enough! I was such a wreck.

"Easier to be say than done." I muttered back. He had moved from behind me sometime around my zoned out, and he was waiting for me to move to the pool table. So I did that, preparing to hit the balls absentmindedly.

"Come on! Tell us more!" Topher laughed. It made me curious about what he wanted Harry to say, and I started to pay attention to the rest of the world.

"Yeah, it's true or dare, you have to speak about her." Chris pressed too.

"True or dare?" I asked out loud, surprised, looking to the men in the table next to Nikko and me. They were playing pool, all around the table, cues on hand and all. But right then, everyone was looking at Harry.

I watched indecision coating his face… until he found me staring at him. And then grinned his malicious smile. I knew I needed to get away before hearing something that would hurt me, but my sadistic and masochist side wanted to _know_ what he was going to say.

"Well, if you so want to know… She was a slut. Period." Harry declared, staring back at me so clear that _everyone_ could see he meant me. I blushed, and curled my hands into fist in my pool cue. And either I was trembling, or the world had started to shake around me.

I hated him more than ever.

"Oh, well. I'm pro sluttery if it means getting laid with more than one girl." Damon grinned. "But it's not really a slut if she didn´t want to sleep with you." He snapped back with a smirk.

"Oh, no. She _did_ sleep with me. And she was quite good, I'm not going to deny it. But, then again, that's what it's expected for someone of her _experience_."

I glared back at Harry, who was just watching me with a victorious grin in his lips. "Maybe she got tired of your childlike and violent behavior." I snapped, furious. Nikko's hand reached for my arm, and only then I noticed I had started to lurched towards Harry.

"I seriously doubt that. She seemed to _enjoy _it, now that you mention it. But as I say, she was the worst kind of girl you can find. Not for what she did to me. No. She messed around with every guy she could, and she bloody _enjoyed_ it. She's a player. She got herself between me and one of my closest friends." Harry said viciously. As he spoke, his tone became more and more cruel.

His words hit me like a Myke Tyson slap and I felt the world under my feet start to tremble, to disintegrate with every breath, every word.

_Oh, god._

My breathing increased, faster, almost desperate, and I felt the hot burn of tears forming in my eyes. Harry smiled the biggest victorious, sadistic smile he could when he watched the reaction of his phrases. I couldn´t even find something to snap back, something that had never happened to me.

"Do you even talk to James anymore, Tallulah?" He asked directly at me. He laughed a cold, bitter laugh that gave me goose bumps all over my arms. "I bet the last time you saw him was during tour. Are you happy now? You _did_ screw him over…"

"Fuck you!" I snapped, furious, but that only made him smile wider.

"You know it's true. You just used him, and then forget about him. It turns you on getting what you want?" He asked, cold anger coating his words. I hated him more than ever. Harry turned to Nikko then. "Don´t get too proud of yourself yet, mate. You're just another James Bourne."

I wanted to hit him.

I wanted to take his eyes out with my own hands.

I wanted to choke him with my bare hands.

And I wanted to run away, too.

"It's definitely better than been another Harry Judd." I exclaimed, not really thinking when I threw the liquid inside my glass to his face. "Go fuck yourself, because that's the only way you can have it. Don´t tell me I wasn´t your last shag, because you're built up sexual tension is clear as hell." I hissed, and then I stormed off.

As soon as I crossed the door of the bar, I started to run, ignoring everything. I'm not really sure when I started to cry, but once I had, I couldn´t stop. I hated myself for crying, for letting him get to me so much, and I hated him for knowing exactly where to hit even when I didn´t. I hated him for making me want him even when I wanted to kill him. I hated him for knowing so well, and for willingly used that against me. I hated me for giving him that much power over me.

And I hated him for following me.

"Bloody hell!" I snapped, when Harry grabbed my arm from above my elbow and turned me around fast. I stopped crying immediately, surprised and because he didn´t need to know I was _that_ weak.

"Don´t you _ever_ walked out on me like that!" He yelled at me. We were in an almost desert street, and I didn´t know how he had find me. I didn´t want to know, either. Harry was like Armand to that journalist in the Vampire Chronicles of Anne Rice, haunting me down. I knew he would find me _anywhere_.

"What? You expected me to stay there and hear you go over and over again about how much of a slut I really am? About how much to the worst kind of person I am?" I snapped. I wasn´t supposed to say that much, but once I had started, it was like my tears. I couldn´t stop. "You're right! I fucking hurt James and I didn´t even call! Happy?" I yelled, as my cheeks began to burn. Later I realized that it was because of the tears I had started to shed again.

"Are you crazy?" He snapped back. "Who cares about James? I want you to feel bad for _me_!" Harry yelled, and as soon as he said that, his face went pale. He hadn´t meant to say so much. "Why do you care for everyone except for me?"

"You're psycho! Let me go!" I ordered, trying to fight him down so he would let go. But I should know by now that _no_, there was no chance in hell for me to overpower him.

"No! Answer me!" Harry demanded, getting closer to me. I could feel his body against mine and his hot breath in my face. He smelled like alcohol and he was obviously mentalled. Then again… so was I.

"Fuck, Judd. You _are_ psycho. What do you want me to say, huh? That you mean the world to me? You don´t and you never did. It's your fault, you ruined everything!" I yelled back, but I had stopped fighting. This was way to tired, and every time I moved I felt as the world started to spin madly around me, leaving only Harry as my stable pillar, which wasn´t very comfortable.

Harry stared at me with cold anger, almost reaching cruelty in his beautiful features. "Don´t you think I know that already?" He snapped, such a weird contrast with his expression that it made me jump out of surprise. I was curious about him. "But I'm not the only one to blame. Were you really with other men, Tallulah? Because what you said earlier it's true." He muttered letting his face fall to my shoulder.

I suddenly wanted to kiss him.

"I didn´t." Accepting the truth seemed like the best thing to do in that situation, but I wasn´t sure why. And since thinking was not the best thing I did while completely pissed… I decided against that. Hugging Harry was much nicer, anyway.

I reached my hands to his chest, the smaller, smarter portion of my brain telling me to push him away. Instead, I curled up my fingers in his shirt, pushing him closer to me. Harry reacted like boiling milk, and he leaned down to me and crashed his lips with mine. His kiss was intoxicating, and only then I realized how much I had missed that.

He pressed his body to me, pushing me more against the wall, as his hands moved up and down my legs, getting them against his waist as the kiss was deepened by his tongue, breaking into my mouth and curling over mine.

Hearing my own moan took me back to reality, and I finally pushed him away, almost falling to the floor when I lost his balance.

Harry looked up from the floor to glare at me. "You are a slut. A fucking tease." He insulted. "Why are you so intended on making my life a living hell? God, you're like a banshee!" He yelled, lurching again to me.

"Get away from me." I ordered with a shaky voice, putting my hands in front of me to stop him. I knew that if he pressed the matter, I wouldn´t be able to do so.

Thankfully, I wasn´t put to test.

Someone interrupted us.

"Good heaven, I've been looking for you everywhere!" Nikko exclaimed with a fake sunny tone of voice, approaching us. I felt mysteriously relived to see him, knowing that once he was there, I was not going to do any crazy thing. Like sleeping with Him. "Look, mate. I don´t know you so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but she looks quite scared, so let her go."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Harry snapped, stepping closer to me just to spite Nikko.

"Apparently, another James Bourne." He answered. "Want me to take you home?" Nikko asked me with a smile so genuine it made me smile back.

I nodded, going to him.

That exact moment felt like a page turned around, like closing a book after finishing reading.

It was the first time I chose somebody else's side other than Harry's. Í know it may not seem like an important thing, but knowing me… it was. It meant I could get away. I was just too suck and dependant to do so.

Nikko didn´t say anything as he grabbed my hand and guided me away, leaving Harry behind. He wasn´t feeling victorious or triumphant. He was just there for me, unbiased, and that was a real change for my regular male companions. I liked him even more.

"He's your ex, right?" Nikko asked. I don´t know how, but we had gone to the beach and we were now walking for the edge between the water and the sand. I had my shoes in my hands but I didn´t realized when I took them off. It was a smart thing to do, though. They were Brian Atwood.

"He cheated on me. I loved him, but it wasn´t enough. He promised to _try_. He came back and never called from there. I guess I was just another plaything for him." I blurted out everything. In his behalf, I have to say that it's improbable he had understood _anything_, but he didn´t question any further.

Nikko nodded. "I thought there was something going on, and that's why I didn´t intervene at first. It's your business, you know? It's not pretty to have people mending even if it is to help."

"Oh, god, you're perfect." I stated, stopping and making him stop too. He was grinning, watching the sun rise.

Before I could think of anything, I leaned to him and kissed him on the lips, passionately, deeply, needy. He hugged my waist and kissed me back for a moment, after realizing it was not the best thing to do, and then he softly pushed me away.

"I'm not going to take advantage to a drunk girl, Red. It's not my thing."

"Oh, I'll probably do the same sober. Take advantage. I want you to. And I never regret what I do mentalled." I stated, kissing him again. Nikko took a longer time to pushed me away this time.

"Come on, don´t press the matter. Please?"

"_Please_? Take advantage of me. I promise I'll make you not regret it." I said, pouting at him.

I kissed him again, my hands wandering down his trousers, inside them, and playing with the edge of his boxers. When Nikko grabbed my waist and kissed me back that time, he didn´t need to speak out loud for me to understand his meaning.

"_Oh, what the hell?_"

And he threw his inhibition and his _moral_ through the window.

**

* * *

**

_It took me quite some time, I know, but I'm finally in a somewhat stable ground. I have my beta again -whom I love because she's the best and doesn´t hate me if I happen to want to kill a character-, I got a job -that gives me money for leisure, which is great XD- and I'm actually only a few paragraphs of finishing this story._

_So I wont take too long to update, and this time I SWEAR over my new purple Ipod._

_I think it's been quite a while since I answered any reviews, so here's to make it up! I'm sorry!_

_**ashh:** Again, I'm SORRY I took this long, you deserve the right to hate me. But at least I updated, right? I'm glad you like it an dI hope you're still reading!_

_**Ringoisastarr:** Believe me, I missed them just as much. But now they're back! Well, I have a tinsy tiny new Dougie idea in the airport yesterday, so maybe I'll humour you with another? XD Hahahahahah. Salem wouldnt ask him to decide between his lizards and her, that's for sure. Love you!_

_**mcflyyyyyyyyyyy**: (I hope I got the right amounts of Y there...) You're my idol and I love you XD! Thank you so much! Here you have, then, a lot of Harry+Tallulah to make up for the time I took them away. I promise I won´t, but to make it up for taking forever and a century, I dedicate this chapter for you! Because you always review and never hate me for making you wait! Love you!_

_**xRevolutionary:** And now they're back again, because I suck and take too long to update XD Nikko is kinda based on Jacob because I was reading the books back then. Too bad he probably wont have an entirely happy ending XD Oh, you're not the only one wishing that! Particularly after the new Attitude photoshoot that's steamy hot. My name's Lucía, but pretty much everyone just calls me Izzy (or Lu, Elf, Heide, Rapunzel, Strawberry Shortcake, freckless... so whatever is ok lol)_

_**Dani6531:** Two chapters later, but here's the reply! Nah, she left the Manolos on the car. It would be HER death is she did such a thing because I would be force to harakiri her. I think the only reason why she didnt jump with them on is because deep down she doesnt want to lose the only proof that Harry liked her once upon a time? It's more of a symbol of the OTHER way around, of her not been able to get over him no matter how much it hurts her._


	8. VII: The bitch of living

**VII**

_**Douglas**_

I didn't like him.

Like, I _seriously_ didn't like him. But every time I tried to find the exact reason for _why_, my brain came up with only a blank space. As if my mind had been brainwashed by that Maryann from True Blood or something. All black.

Because there really wasn't a reason for why I should hate him, except for…

Well, that wasn´t an option I would like to think out loud, no matter how impossible or oxymoronic that sounds. So I was left again in the dark.

He wasn´t all that bad when you looked at him like normal people would. He was even nice and… well, maybe even cool. He did have Tallulah's blood in his veins, and she was one of the coolest girls I'd ever known. But I couldn´t help but hate him.

Fine, no... not really _hate_ him. But really, really, really dislike him.

And I did hate how he would tag along with us. Wasn´t he tired of spending time with her? I mean… they had gone out that night. Why was he there the next morning to take her to the beach, and then to lunch with us in the house?

"Doug. Chill."

I turned around, surprised to hear my sister's order. She was standing by the threshold of the door to my room, the one I shared with Danny because the house wasn´t that big.

"I am. I am _really_ chilled." I assured her. Of course, Jazzie didn´t believe me. No one would, now that I think about it. "Fine, I'm not. It's just that…" I tried to find any kind of excuse, really. The weather? My clothes? The food? Nothing was good enough. So I decided for the truth… At least the truth that I could admit out loud, anyway. "I just can´t stand _him_."

Jazzie sighed with a know-it-all look that practically scared me. How the hell did she manage to scare me without really trying to? Amazing. "I can see that. But you'll have to suck it up just as long as she's dating him, and I'm dating her brother. Sid is cool, I promise."

"Oh, who cares if he's cool or not?" I snapped, a little too violently for her not to suspect the truth I couldn't admit.

"So that's what happening then." She said softly. I shrugged. "Well, then…." Jazzie looked uncomfortable for an instant, trying to find a way to say something without really saying it. "… Harry is quite the sunshine today." She finally said.

I chuckled at that. She was right; Harry had been in an EMO mood since he came back later last night. He was PMSing, probably, thinking the world was all black and hated him and all that. Probably something happened with Tallulah, because she was the only one who was able to affect him that much, but I hadn´t had time to ask Tom or Danny, and Harry just glared at you whenever you tried to mention anything.

"He's suffering from a hangover." I said, covering up for him. At least I could do _that_ seeing as I was too immersed in my own stuff to be the good friend I supposedly was. "He's always that moody after he gets pissed."

Jazzie nodded in understanding. "That seems rather logical… Come on, Doug. Let's go downstairs, ok? Stop being a party pooper and let's go eat! Salem made something rather difficult to pronounce but delicious nevertheless." She said, and it wasn't clearly a suggestion but an order, as she leaned towards me and grabbed my arm. "We'll get you sweet-drunk, ok?"

I laughed at that. Yes, she was clearly my sister.

Jazzie dragged me down, and I stepped down the stairs like a bloody bride would do, I took a resolution. I was going to try and… _like_ him. Not in a sexual way, obviously. But… if I didn´t like him when there wasn't a real reason, that easily could mean that I could find a reasonable reason to do the opposite, right?

We interrupted a conversation going on between everyone, or so it seemed, and it made me remember when I was little. There was nothing I hated most than having to go into a family reunion once everyone was already there. I hated to be the center of attention like that and right then I feared that the reaction would be the same.

It wasn´t, thank god.

They just spared a glance at me and then went on with what they were doing. I sat next to Jazzie and, purely by coincidence, next to Salem too. She smiled a soft smile at me, and turned back to speak with Sid. He smiled – like, a _lot_, how annoying is that? – too excited about whatever he was telling her. It made me angry the way her eyes sparkle with amusement, or the way he puffed his chest out when he explained something probably heroic or something – that was really ridiculous, because there were no real heroic acts unless you were a fireman or something like that – I tried to pay attention to his words, seeing as, slowly, _Sid_ had gained even my mother and sister's attention.

I suppressed a glare followed by a sneered of _traitors!_ By biting the inside of my lip.

He was telling a story about a friend of his, one that, by the look of Harry's face, my three friends had met last night. Harry glared at Sid _so _obviously; I thought stupidly for a second that he had gotten my psychic message of hating Sid.

That was the only time Sid looked uneasy.

"Oh… I see you met Damon already?" He asked, arching his eyebrows.

"He's disgusting." Harry snapped. I grinned victoriously when I heard him. There wasn't a more legitimate reason to hate a person than doing it because he had done something wrong to your closest friends.

My hopes didn't last long, however, because soon after Harry realized what he had really said.

"Sorry, mate. I didn´t mean to sound so… crude." He said.

I was tempted to hit my head against the table, but dismissed the idea as totally stupid.

I didn't want a bruised forehead.

"It's ok, really. He's my friend, so I know he can be quite the bastard if he wants to." Sid laughed. Salem smiled at him wider than before, as if admitting your friends were assholes was a great thing.

I _needed_ to point that out.

"It doesn't sounds like a nice thing to say about a _friend_ when he's not even around." I stated, a little too harshly, if I had to do some minor self-criticism. Everyone turned to look at me as if I had admitted to kill ten kitties with my own bare hands.

"I guess it is… But on the other hand, I know how he is, and Harry clearly knows it too, so why lie about it? The fact he can be a bastards doesn´t change other facts that I won´t point out, out of respect." Sid grinned an innocent smile that got all the girls _cooing_ at him.

What a…. _bastard_!

Hell, I could do that if I wanted to! I could speak bullshit about my friends when they weren´t there if that was what girls liked! Except I was a _bloody good friend and would never do that_! I mean, am! I _am_ a _bloody good friend and will never do that_.

I would have marked that as the perfect reason not to like him, but seeing as _everybody else_ found it amazing, I decided against it. Because what if Salem – just to name someone, it could have been my sister - asked about the reasons why I hated him and I answered _that_?

I could even see her face staring at me as if I had just said the worst thing ever.

"_That's like so statistically wrong" _she would snap something like that or worse. Everyone knew how she was with statistics.

I didn't get that, really. What good thing really came from statistics? Statistics told you everything was impossible unless you were a perfect member of a perfect elite team. I don't mean to brag, but I was the proof that it wasn't real. How many times had I had heard things like _music will not feed you when you're older_ or _come on, dude, how many opportunities do you have to actually making it big?_ Or even _well, enjoy this as much as you can, because you're going to be forgotten in less than a year._ Then there was one of those phrases I hated the most – which, if you want to know is _what are you going to do when this ends? You're not James Busted_, but repeat that and you're dead from termites – but…

_Hell_, I don't remember my point with that….

…Anyways!

The important thing was that Sid was annoying and I hated him, but I wasn´t able to find any real reason to do so.

As the time went on and food was passed back and forth, my intentions to find _something_ became more and more… well, _desperate_.

He made too much noise when drinking soda.

He frowned too deeply when the sun hit him directly – so he _was_ a vampire.

He laughed at the stupidest things.

He pretended he understood most of Salem's talk about statistics and mathematics and tried to keep her conversation going.

He kissed Salem's cheek way too much for a day with the family.

He linked his hand were hers anytime he had the chance.

He…

I stopped when I realized I was starting to sound like a stupid teenage girl with a crush, which I was not.

Not a teenage girl nor with a crush.

So I tried to _stop_ hating him.

For a while.

And I tried to keep my comments to a small amount, or at least to sound _conversational_ or something.

I managed with that with the only way I could.

Ignoring him.

I pretended he wasn´t there and joined the conversation, laughing and joking and sometimes glaring at Tom for engaging in conversation with He Who Wasn´t Really There For Me, and eating. So many tasks to do in less than an hour, I was great.

Problems started when, slowly but surely, Sid got the conversation to his favorite topic.

Himself.

…Fine, fine! Geez!

All right! It was my mom who kept bugging him about the story of his life and all. Big deal!

It was still one more little reason to add to the million of little reasons that will eventually make one perfect big reason!

I bit my tongue every time he so much as opened his mouth because the crude and definitely _impolite_ comments were ready to burst from my mouth. I somehow managed to control them.

Until he decided to show he was a hero.

_Stupid asshole_.

Sid started to tell the story of one of his school's mates, who was by every definition an emo boy, thinking his life sucked and that he deserved to be dead and all that jazz. All lies, if you ask me. He probably didn´t go to school with a boy named Brant. He kept explaining the situation, until he reached the important part. _Brant's_ intentions of suicide.

If you ask me, that was clearly just a desperate cry for attention.

"And then he jumped." Sid said. He was trying to concealed his grin for a while, which was an obvious proof that he was just inventing that up. Right? "I don´t know why he thought he could actually get kill there –I mean, it was less than a foot deep – but he jumped with all the intentions of committing suicide. So I had to jumped after him, because since he was _so _sure he would die… Well, that made me unsure. I almost broke my leg, but thankfully it all ended up well." Sid said with his infuriating grin back in place.

I had a cruel image of me – or an invisible entity, for that matter – wiping it out with the silver tray holding the drinks in the middle of the table. It was a nice image, but as much as I tried to concentrate on _that_ and not open my mouth, my words were stronger.

"But wasn´t that like… playing hero? You _did_ know nothing was going to happen to him no matter how much he jumped." I said. At least, I managed to sound _conversational _and not violent or ready to fight or too sarcastic. It was an accomplishment, I was almost proud.

_Almost_, at least until I felt my sister bony elbow hitting my ribs hard.

So it wasn't really a conversational thing to say, big deal!

Sid seemed a little surprised by my question – or maybe he was a vampire and he was surprised that I hadn´t fallen under his power, who knows? – but he was easily smiling again. "Well… It kinda is, right?" He accepted. "If you ask Nikky, she'll tell you I'm such a drama queen, I was too engrossed in the situation to think it through. She was probably right." He laughed, and everyone laughed along with him. Even Tom and Danny, to whom I glared with all the power of my mental capability – I couldn't really glare in the reality, right? Everyone would _know_ what I was thinking. At least Harry was properly sulking. _Hell, remember to talk to him later…_ I muttered to my mental self.

My attention was back to my hating of Sid when I heard the last part of his answer. It was impossible for someone to get everyone to like you. I mean, not even Tom! And he's the most adorable man in the most not gay way possible I ever know! There was something sketchy going on, I was sure. How could he get, like, _everyone_ loving him after just a couple of days?

It was a good enough reason to hate him, and I smirked proudly of myself.

That was until I saw Salem's weird glances towards me. She was worried about my reactions, and my thoughts had probably showed in my face for the look in her eyes. I might've blushed, but I'm not sure, and since I'm not sure, I'll say I didn´t. So, I _**didn´t**_ blush. At all.

What I did do was put into further consideration what I had at first though was a perfect reason. It turned out it wasn't. It sounded pretty stupid, actually, when I looked at it from Salem's perspective – because she is the rational and smart one, nothing further than that.

So I was back to been grumpy.

I crossed my arms over my chest, to prevent any funny feelings to start in my stomach for the… food. Yeah, for the food.

Salem looked at me worriedly after I decided for silence instead of… whatever I was doing earlier. Many times I saw her mouth open when she turned to me, probably wanting to ask something, but then she closed it again, turning instead to her brother or something.

Jagger looked me weirdly too, but, not like the rest, he had actual reasons to suspect something. I mean, I _had_ told him yesterday to just go to sleep because I could make sure for him that his sister was back and tucked in her bed without any hair out of place. Because I had a sister too and I knew how it felt when she started to go out and took too long to get back home because you start to picture all you did with _your_ girlfriends and you know what she's probably doing too… How could a brother relax when himself or someone in his same position suffered like that?

And then when she was back a whole hour later than when she'd said she'd originally be back, and therefore forcing me to stay back and not go out with my _friends_, instead of been bloody thankful it was me and not her brother there to kill her and then castrate Sid – even when that sounded like a great idea even to me – she started to yell, scared. Hell, I'm not that ugly, right? I would like to consider myself quite the handsome man, actually…

Anyway. I got angry with her for acting like – not because she was late, I didn´t care about that – and I acted like a bastard. Salem was just too cute – normally - to snap back, but she did it right then.

I was more than surprised, and I suddenly wanted to kill Sid.

… _Oh, wait!_

That was a good enough reason!

Sid had _changed_ my Salem!

He had somehow forced her to be so different than what she really was. He had turned her into his very own Frankenstein.

And I said _my Salem_ just to differentiate her from the new Salem, the one who snapped rudely back at you. Not to indicate any kind of… _possession_, or something.

Somehow, I managed to get out of my surprise. I… kinda really liked our small and brief civil conversation, and I tried to prolong it, inviting her to share my lizards program in Discovery Channel – an honor not that many people were able to enjoy.

But she rejected me.

I can't explain why, but it sorta kinda hurt…

I let her go, ignoring the impulse of just being all primitive on her, grabbing her by the hair and forcing her to sit next to me. Because that wasn´t logical or reasonable or even doable at all, and because she wouldn´t appreciate it at all.

So I wondered why she didn´t like me. I knew I was kind of a bastard almost all the time… but it had started because of her, actually. She was so perfect and smart and with so many thing accomplished in life that… If she had been just a little bit more open and smiled a little bit more – like she did with Sid, I sulkily noticed – I would have probably even really liked her.

Sadly enough, first impressions were more important than whatever may happen later.

And now she had a boyfriend.

A boyfriend I hated with all my might with no real reason.

A boyfriend that was currently sitting next to her while we had lunch with my family.

I tried almost desperately to find something about him bad enough to hate him, but after almost three hours of lunch and _then _chitchat, I had my hands as empty as my stomach when I woke up. Not even my many, _many_, mean and snappy remarks and crude comments were of any help. The only thing I managed to get out of that was bruised ribs and the scolding look in Salem's face.

And that affected me more than anything else.

Because if she thought I was being a complete twat, then that meant that I _really_ was being a complete twat.

But behaving like a grown up was not in the options, so for once I took the mature decision.

"Excuse me." I snapped, getting up and walking out of the… fine, fine, I meant walking into the house. Geez, let a boy make mistakes when he's fucking angry and frustrated!

Thank god, I didn´t behave like a bratty little boy and didn´t throw a tantrum. I just got peacefully and silently to my room.

And _then_ I slapped the door closed. It was very mature, if you ask me.

Except…

"Ow, you motherfucker!"

I was so surprised to hear the door talking with Danny's voice. I might've let out a girlish small squeal. But just _maybe_.

"Douglas, what the hell is wrong with you?" The door yelled, opening itself to… revealed Danny with his hands covering his face.

…_Oops?_

"Oh, fuck. Sorry, mate. Didn´t know you were there." I said, sitting down in the bed because that was easier than being awkwardly standing there.

"Next time, try to hear your friend calling your name after you!" Danny snapped, letting his body fall on the other bed, finally letting go of his nose. It was red and a little swollen, so he was closer to me than I had thought. I wondered exactly how deeply immersed I was into my feelings not to have heard him. "What was that you got around during lunch, huh? Your sister is worried and your mom is probably planning to kill you and feed you to the sharks or something."

"I just don´t like him." I stated. It was better to say to truth that hit the bushes.

…Or however that one goes, I was never great with remember those kinds of sayings.

"Well, that's bloody clear. The question is: _why_ don´t you like him?" Danny said, voicing the question I dreaded to hear.

So, in lack of only one big reason, I started to enumerate all the small little reasons for doing what I was doing. Sid was obnoxious, he smiled too much, he was manipulative, he was clearly a bad friend, he loved to play hero and showed himself as that to gain attention. He was stupid, annoying, condescended and a paternalist. He didn't know when enough PDA was enough PDA, he kept putting his hands all over Salem. He kissed her waaay too much. He practically molested Salem with so much touching. He thought he was all that. He found a-

"Ok, ok! Stop it! I get it already. Dude, anyone would think that you have a crush on _him_!" Danny snapped, moving his hands and arms all around him to get me to stop talking. The way his voiced those words made me suspicious about the real reason behind them. It almost sounded as if… as if I indeed had a crush, but on somebody else.

That was plain ridiculous.

I _so_ didn't fancy Tallulah!

"Are you _mad_? Harry will kill me!" I snapped, too engrossed in my thoughts to notice I spoke out loud.

Danny was genuinely surprised. "What are you trying to say? You're not making any sense…"

"How can you think I would fancy Tallulah? Dude, that's sick!"

That time, he was _even_ more surprised.

"WHAT? I wasn't talking about Tallulah! Douglas, are you out of your mind?" He yelled. I did blush then.

"…Maybe?" I accepted, because really, if he hadn´t been talking about her… then who?

"God, you're thick. Do I need you to slam the door against _your_ face for you to finally get it?" Danny sounded frustrated, really. So I decided to be a good friend and tried to figure out where he was coming from.

But…

The obvious answer was the only answer I didn´t want to accept. Didn´t want to even _consider_. The one I had been ignoring all day long, and quite a while before, too.

Because it would be real, then.

But now that Danny had put it in my head, there was no way for me to find any excuse. No food, no wind, no nothing. It was only my thoughts and me.

"Oh, crap…" I muttered, when I _finally_ realized what I had been trying to ignore. Once I was shaken back to reality, it was quite clear. It was almost amazing _she_ hadn´t noticed it first. "I think I fancy her…"

"What? _Tallulah_? Please tell me you're joking? Harry is going to _really_ kill you! Chop you to dead and back and then boiled your body in parts and make us eat you up for _helping_ you! Tallulah makes him psycho!" Danny exclaimed frantically, but I didn´t really pay attention. I was too absorbed by my revelation.

Good lord, I fancied Salem O'Shea, my sister's boyfriend's sister who happened to have a boyfriend of her own!

_God, I need a girlfriend to be a part of that circle_.

"… Doug, you're an idiot." I muttered out loud after such a stupid comment. Danny stopped when he heard me.

"Oh… _Oh!_ So you finally realized it! That's great, that means I won the bet." He said all too proud. I glared at him, because it was what was expected, but my mind could only think of Salem. It seemed as if, now that I could _finally_ admit it, Mental Dougie was going to have all the fantasies, dreams, thoughts and the like about her that I'd been suppressing without really noticing.

"I'll tell him the exact date you said if you share the prize." I offered.

"Deal!"

* * *

_**ashh:** You're the best, really. i'm happy to make you happy! This chapter goes entirely to you because of your awesomeness. Well, thats QUITE a compliment, so THANKS! Homework is evil, anyways and you can say you're trying to... expand your knowledge of the net world? We'll find an excuse, I'm sure lol Love you!_

_**Ringoisastarr:** Just FYI, typing your nickname makes me giddy for no apparent reason XD Just thought you should know that. It's nice being updating again! I've missed FF even when Mr FF can act like an ass sometimes. Now he's playing nice -he's trying to make me feel safe ans secure before dying on me, I just know it. Plot Bunnies should be patient, wait until you finished the PREVIOUS plot bunnies, and only then strike. Love you!_

_Go on._

_Review._

_I dare you!_

_XOXO_


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